String theory for undergraduates

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

8.033 (Relativity), 8.044 (Statistical Physics I), and 8.05 (Quantum Physics II).

Zwiebach, Barton. A First Course in String Theory. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780521831437.

A new readable book at the graduate level is:

Becker, Katrin, Melanie Becker, and John H. Schwarz. String Theory and M-Theory: A Modern Introduction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780521860697.

There will be weekly homework. No late homework will be accepted. Students will be able to drop one homework - the one with the lowest grade - from their record.

There will be two tests and a final exam.

Announcements, introduction

Lorentz transformations

Light-cone coordinates

Energy and momentum

Compact dimensions, orbifolds

Quantum mechanics and the square well

Relativistic electrodynamics

Gauss' law

Gravitation and Planck's length

Static gauge, transverse velocity, and string action

Motion of free open string endpoints

The sigma-parametrization

Equations of motion and virasoro constraints

General motion for open strings

Rotating open strings

Periodicity conditions for the motion of closed strings

The formation of cusps

Conserved currents in E&M

Conserved charges in lagrangian mechanics

Momentum charges for the string

Lorentz charges for the strings

Angular momentum of the rotating string

Discuss alpha' and the string length l_s

General gauges: fixing tau and natural units

Critical dimension

Constructing the state space

Tachyons

Wrap-up of closed strings

Superstrings

Closed strings

Heterotic string theory

Dp-branes

Parallel Dp's

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