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Recent developments in supersymmetric field theory, string theory, and brane theory have been revolutionary. The main focus of the present volume is developments of M-theory and its applications to superstring theory, quantum gravity, and the theory of elementary particles. Topics included are D-branes, boundary states, and world volume solitons. Anti-De-Sitter quantum field theory is explained, emphasising the way it can enforce the holography principle, together with the relation to black hole physics and the way Branes provide the microscopic interpretation for the entropy of black holes. Developments in D-branes within type-I superstring and related theories are described. There are also possible phenomenological implications of superstring theory that would lie within the range of quantum gravity effects in the future generation of accelerators, around 1 TeV.
For much of the twentieth century scientists sought to explain objects and processes by reducing them to their components—nuclei into protons and neutrons, proteins into amino acids, and so on—but over the past forty years there has been a marked turn toward explaining phenomena by building them up rather than breaking them down. This collection reflects on the history and significance of this turn toward “growing explanations” from the bottom up. The essays show how this strategy—based on a widespread appreciation for complexity even in apparently simple processes and on the capacity of computers to simulate such complexity—has played out in a broad array of sciences. They descr...
The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, the culmination of a decades-long search, is one of the singular triumphs of particle physics. Advanced experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN (the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) near Geneva detected the long-hypothesized particle, resulting in the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics. Drawing on two and a half years of in-depth fieldwork spent among CERN’s research community during this critical period, Arpita Roy offers a rich analysis of science in the making. To what extent are scientific discoveries a matter of empirical findings? How do scientists at the farthest reach of abstraction understand their work? Unfinished Nature ...
Conceptual progress in fundamental theoretical physics is linked with the search for the suitable mathematical structures that model the physical systems. Quantum field theory (QFT) has proven to be a rich source of ideas for mathematics for a long time. However, fundamental questions such as ``What is a QFT?'' did not have satisfactory mathematical answers, especially on spaces with arbitrary topology, fundamental for the formulation of perturbative string theory. This book contains a collection of papers highlighting the mathematical foundations of QFT and its relevance to perturbative string theory as well as the deep techniques that have been emerging in the last few years. The papers are organized under three main chapters: Foundations for Quantum Field Theory, Quantization of Field Theories, and Two-Dimensional Quantum Field Theories. An introduction, written by the editors, provides an overview of the main underlying themes that bind together the papers in the volume.
This volume contains the proceedings of two AMS Special Sessions "Geometric and Algebraic Aspects of Representation Theory" and "Quantum Groups and Noncommutative Algebraic Geometry" held October 13–14, 2012, at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana. Included in this volume are original research and some survey articles on various aspects of representations of algebras including Kac—Moody algebras, Lie superalgebras, quantum groups, toroidal algebras, Leibniz algebras and their connections with other areas of mathematics and mathematical physics.
A Fields medalist recounts his lifelong transnational effort to uncover the geometric shape--the Calabi-Yau manifold--that may store the hidden dimensions of our universe. Harvard geometer and Fields medalist Shing-Tung Yau has provided a mathematical foundation for string theory, offered new insights into black holes, and mathematically demonstrated the stability of our universe. In this autobiography, Yau reflects on his improbable journey to becoming one of the world's most distinguished mathematicians. Beginning with an impoverished childhood in China and Hong Kong, Yau takes readers through his doctoral studies at Berkeley during the height of the Vietnam War protests, his Fields Medal-...
“A splendid, edifying report from the front lines of theorectical physics” (San Francisco Chronicle). In this illuminating book, renowned physicist Lee Smolin argues that fundamental physics—the search for the laws of nature—is losing its way. Ambitious ideas about extra dimensions, exotic particles, multiple universes, and strings have captured the public’s imagination—and the imagination of experts. But these ideas have not been tested experimentally, and some, like string theory, seem to offer no possibility of being tested. Even still, these speculations dominate the field, attracting the best talent and much of the funding, while creating a climate in which emerging physicists are often penalized for pursuing other avenues. The situation threatens to impede the very progress of science. With clarity, passion, and authority, Smolin offers an unblinking assessment of the troubles that face modern physics, and an encouraging view of where the search for the next big idea may lead. “The best book about contemporary science written for the layman that I have ever read.” —The Times (London)
This volume contains the proceedings of the International Conference on Vertex Operator Algebras, Number Theory, and Related Topics, held from June 11–15, 2018, at California State University, Sacramento, California. The mathematics of vertex operator algebras, vector-valued modular forms and finite group theory continues to provide a rich and vibrant landscape in mathematics and physics. The resurgence of moonshine related to the Mathieu group and other groups, the increasing role of algebraic geometry and the development of irrational vertex operator algebras are just a few of the exciting and active areas at present. The proceedings center around active research on vertex operator algebras and vector-valued modular forms and offer original contributions to the areas of vertex algebras and number theory, surveys on some of the most important topics relevant to these fields, introductions to new fields related to these and open problems from some of the leaders in these areas.
The leading mind behind the mathematics of string theory discusses how geometry explains the universe we see. Illustrations.