Physics 137, String Theory

Professor: Ken Intriligator, Mayer Hall 5551

Office hours: Tuesday 3-4pm.

Text: A First Course in String Theory (2nd edition) , by Barton Zwiebach.

Course Times : F 2:00-4:50 pm, MYR-A 2623

Trevor Stavropoulos has kindly volunteered to help students with this course, by offering weekly office hours in the physics help center on Mondays, 2-3pm.

Grading: TBA. Weekly HW will be assigned (no late HWs will be accepted). There will also be a final exam and/or topic presentation.

MIT String Theory for Undergraduates Course by Barton Zwiebach.

String Theory Wikipedia page (includes many links, and references).

lecture topic (and link to notes) Homework (from Zwiebach)
4/3 Introduction, relativity, extra dimensions   2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.10. Due 4/10.       
4/10 Electromagnetism and Gravitation in various dimensions   3.1, 3.2, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, due 4/17.        
4/17 Relativistic point particle, GR, nonrelativisitc string   4.5, 4.8, 5.2, 5.4, 5.6, 5.7, due 4/24.        
4/24 Relativistic strings, parameterization, classical motion   6.4, 6.5, 6.9, 7.2, 8.5a due 5/8 (extension)        
5/1 Relativistic strings, parameterization, classical motion, continued.          
5/8 Light cone strings, fields and particles   9.2, 10.2, 10.7. Due 5/22.       
5/15 No lecture (make-up lecture in finals week).          
5/22 Relativistic quantum point particle, and open strings   12.1, 12.3. Due 5/29.        
5/29 Relativistic open and closed strings          
6/5 Superstrings. T-duality   14.5. Due June 12.       
6/12 String Thermodynamics and Black Holes