String Theory in a Nutshell is the definitive introduction to modern string theory. Written by one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject, this concise and accessible book starts with basic definitions and guides readers from classic topics to the most exciting frontiers of research today. It covers perturbative string theory, the unity of string interactions, black holes and their microscopic entropy, the AdS/CFT correspondence and its applications, matrix model tools for string theory, and more. It also includes 600 exercises and serves as a self-contained guide to the literature.
This fully updated edition features an entirely new chapter on flux compactifications in string theory, and the chapter on AdS/CFT has been substantially expanded by adding many applications to diverse topics. In addition, the discussion of conformal field theory has been extensively revised to make it more student-friendly.
The essential one-volume reference for students and researchers in theoretical high-energy physics
Now fully expanded and revised
Provides expanded coverage of AdS/CFT and its applications, namely the holographic renormalization group, holographic theories for Yang-Mills and QCD, nonequilibrium thermal physics, finite density physics, and entanglement entropy
Ideal for mathematicians and physicists specializing in theoretical cosmology, QCD, and novel approaches to condensed matter systems
An online illustration package is available to professors
Author(s): Elias Kiritsis
Edition: 2
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 855
Contents
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Abbreviations
1 Introduction
2 Classical String Theory
3 Quantization of Bosonic Strings
4 Conformal Field Theory
5 Scattering Amplitudes and Vertex Operators
6 Strings in Background Fields
7 Superstrings and Supersymmetry
8 D-Branes
9 Compactification and Supersymmetry Breaking
10 Loop Corrections to String Effective Couplings
11 Duality Connections and Nonperturbative Effects
12 Compactifications with Fluxes
13 Black Holes and Entropy in String Theory
14 The Bulk/Boundary (Holographic) Correspondence
15 Applications of the Holographic Correspondence
16 String Theory and Matrix Models
Appendixes
Appendix A Two-Dimensional Complex Geometry
Appendix B Differential Forms
Appendix C Conformal Transformations and Curvature
Appendix D Theta and Other Elliptic Functions
Appendix E Toroidal Lattice Sums
Appendix F Toroidal Kaluza-Klein Reduction
Appendix G The Reissner-Nordström Black Hole
Appendix H Electric-Magnetic Duality in D = 4
Appendix I Supersymmetric Actions in Ten and Eleven Dimensions
Appendix J N=14, 24, Four-Dimensional Supergravity Coupled to Matter
Appendix K BPS Multiplets in Four Dimensions
Appendix L The Geometry of Anti-de Sitter Space
Bibliography
Index
