Physics 137, String Theory

Professor: Ken Intriligator, Mayer Hall 5234

Office hours after class and by appointment

Final exam: Weds June 13, 3-6pm. Bring bluebooks and 1 page (both sides) of notes. The final will look something like this.

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

Course Times : MW 2:00-3:20 pm, MYR-A 2623

Grading: Weekly HW will be assigned (no late HWs will be accepted). There will also be occasional in-class quizzes, and a final exam. Homework: 60%; quizzes and class participation: 15%; final exam: 25%.

My class from 2009

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

lecture topic (and link to notes) Homework (from Zwiebach)
4/2 Introduction, relativity, extra dimensions   2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.10. Due 4/11.       
4/4 Introduction, relativity, extra dimensions          
4/9 Electromagnetism and relativity          
4/11 Electromagnetism and relativity, cont.   3.1, 3.2, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11. due 4/23.       
4/16 Electromagnetism and gravity cont.          
4/18 E&M, gravity, extra dimensions          
4/23 Strings (non-relativisitc)   4.5, 4.8, 5.2, 5.4, 5.6, 5.7, 6.4, 6.5 due 4/30.        
4/25 relativistic strings          
4/30 relativistic strings and static gauge          
5/2 String EOM, gauges, solutions   6.9, 7.2, 8.5 (Due 5/9)       
5/7 Conservation laws, spacetime and worldsheet.          
5/9 String EOM and gauges   9.3, 10.2, 10.7. Due 5/21        
5/14 Light cone gauge          
5/16 Light cone gauge quantization          
5/21 Light cone quantization cont          
5/23 Relativistic quantum open strings   12.1, 12.3. Due 5/30.        
5/30 Closed strings          
6/4 superstrings   14.3, 17.1 Due 6/13        
6/6 T duality, thermodynamics, black holes