8.821 | Fall 2008 | Graduate

String Theory

Readings

SES # TOPICS READING REFERENCES
1 What you need to know about string theory  
2 D3-branes at small and large coupling Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity, section 1.1.
3 AdS/CFT from scratch, no strings Gauge/Gravity Duality
4 What holds up the throat? Physics of String Flux Compactifications
5 How to defend yourself from a supersymmetric field theory Supersymmetric Gauge Theories and the AdS/CFT Correspondence, sections 2-4.
6 About the N = 4 SYM theory Supersymmetric Gauge Theories and the AdS/CFT Correspondence, section 3.
7 Big picture of correspondence; strings and strong interactions

Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity, section 3.1.2.

TASI Lectures on AdS/CFT, sections 2 and 3.0.

8 ’t Hooft counting

Coleman’s `1/N’ paper (PDF - 1.3 MB)

Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity, section 1.2.

TASI Lectures on AdS/CFT, section 2.

9 Scale and conformal invariance in field theory

Applied Conformal Field Theory

Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity, section 2.1.

Introduction to Conformal Invariance

10 CFT in D > 2 (cont.) Same readings as previous lecture
11 Geometry of AdS

Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity, section 2.2.

Kiritsis, Elias. String Theory in a Nutshell. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007, appendix K. ISBN: 9780691122304.

TASI Lectures on AdS/CFT, section 2.

12 Geometry of AdS (cont.); Poincaré patch; wave equation in AdS

Introduction to the Maldacena Conjecture on AdS/CFT, section 2.

TASI Lectures on AdS/CFT, section 3.

13 Masses of fields and dimensions of operators; BF-allowed tachyons

TASI Lectures on AdS/CFT, section 4.

Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity, section 3.3.

14 How to compute two-point correlators of scalar operators

TASI Lectures on AdS/CFT, section 4.

Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity, section 3.3.

Gauge Theory Correlators from Non-Critical String Theory

Anti De Sitter Space And Holography, sections 2.4 and 2.5.

15 Preview of real-time issues; two-point functions in momentum space (cont.); more on low-mass2 fields in AdS

Same readings as previous lecture

AdS/CFT Correspondence and Symmetry Breaking

16 Three-point functions, anomalies; expectation values

Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity, sections 3.2.2 and 3.3.2.

Supersymmetric Gauge Theories and the AdS/CFT Correspondence, sections x8.4 and 8.5.

Correlation Functions in the CFT(d)/AdS(d+1) Correspondence

Anti De Sitter Space And Holography, sections 2.4 and 2.5.

AdS/CFT Correspondence and Symmetry Breaking, p. 9.

17 Wilson loops

Kiritsis, Elias. String Theory in a Nutshell. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007, section 13.9. ISBN: 9780691122304.

Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity, section 3.5.

18 Wilson loops (cont.)

Same readings as previous lecture

Wilson Loops and Minimal Surfaces

The Operator Product Expansion for Wilson Loops and Surfaces in the Large N Limit

19 Pointlike probes of the bulk; Baryons and branes in AdS; ‘Non-spherical horizons’

Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity, sections 3.5.2, 4.1, and 4.2.

Conformal Anomaly Of Submanifold Observables In AdS/CFT Correspondence

The Black Hole Singularity in AdS/CFT

Invasion of the Giant Gravitons from Anti-de Sitter Space

20 Brief survey of other examples of the correspondence (M2, M5, D1-D5, Dp, branes at singularities); a model of confinement

Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity, sections 4.1, 6.1, and 6.2.

Supergravity and The Large N Limit of Theories With Sixteen Supercharges

TASI Lectures on AdS/CFT, section 6.

21 Confinement (cont.): how to measure the spectrum, proof of mass gap

Anti-de Sitter Space, Thermal Phase Transition, And Confinement In Gauge Theories

Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity, section 6.2.

TASI Lectures on AdS/CFT, section 6.

22 Black hole mechanics, classical and quantum

Introductory Lectures on Black Hole Thermodynamics, sections 2 and 3 (PS).

Black Holes, chapter 6.

23 AdS black holes and thermal gauge theory; equation of state, free energy and stress tensor No references
24 Hawking effect for interacting field theories and BH thermodynamics

Introductory Lectures on Black Hole Thermodynamics, section 3 (PS).

Susskind, Leonard, and James Lindesay. An Introduction to Black Holes, Information, and the String Theory Revolution: The Holographic Universe. Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific, 2004, chapter 3. ISBN: 9789812560834.

25 AdS black holes and thermal gauge theory: Polyakov-Susskind loop, screening, quasinormal modes, Hawking-page transition

Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity, section 3.6.

Anti-de Sitter Space, Thermal Phase Transition, And Confinement In Gauge Theories

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