Physics 234B: String Theory II -- Outline

Spring 2008

Unofficial Week-by-week Outline

Week 1: I. String-string dualities, M-theory.
String-string dualities: Type IIB S-duality. Type IIB supergravity and its classical SL(2,R) symmetry. SL(2,Z) duality. (p,q) strings. U-duality of Type II theories on tori.
Week 2:
N=1 supergravity in ten dimensions. Heterotic/Type I duality. The Type I D-string as the heterotic string. The Type I D5-brane.
Week 3:
Type IIA/M-theory duality; heterotic M-theory; F-theory.
Week 4: II. Black holes, black branes and their entropy.
Bekenstein-Hawking entropy for black holes and branes.
Week 5:
Statistical mechanics of black-hole entropy in string theory; the D1-D5-P system; D-branes and microstates.
Week 6:
Black holes in IIB on a Calabi-Yau; the OSV conjecture; topological strings.
Week 7: III. Towards nonperturbative definitions of string/M-theory.
Matrix models of the noncritical bosonic string and Type 0 strings in two dimensions; noncritical M-theory.
Week 8:
M(atrix) theory; the DLCQ method.
Week 9:
String field theory.
Week 10:
Spring break
Week 11: IV. AdS/CFT correspondence.
Gauge-gravity dualities in general; 't Hooft large N expansion; N=4 SYM/Type IIB on AdS_5 duality (from D3-branes).
Week 12:
AdS_3/CFT_2; reducing supersymmetry in AdS/CFT.
Week 13:
Away from conformal invariance.
Week 14: V. Recent developments and open questions.
AdS/QCD, quark-gluon plasma, nonequilibrium aspects of AdS/CFT correspondence.
Week 15:
Nonequilibrium AdS/CFT: kinetic coefficients, viscosity bounds; strings out of equilibrium.
Week 16:
The landscape of vacua; flux compactifications; positive cosmological constant in string theory, inflation; the swampland idea.

horava@berkeley.edu