Strings, Conformal Fields, and M-Theory

Building on the foundations laid in his Introduction to Superstrings and M Theory, Professor Kaku discusses such topics as the classification of conformal string theories, knot theory, the Yang-Baxter relation, quantum groups, and the insights into 11-dimensional strings recently obtained from M-theory. New chapters discuss such topics as Seiberg-Witten theory, M theory and duality, and D-branes. Throughout, the author conveys the vitality of the current research and places readers at its forefront. Several chapters reviewing the fundamentals of string theory, making the presentation of the material self-contained while keeping overlap with the earlier book to a minimum.

String theory, once hailed as a potential "theory of everything," continues to progress at an astonishing rate, and this book brings the reader up to date with the latest developments and the most active areas of research in the field. New chapters discuss such topics as Seiberg-Witten theory, M theory and duality., and D-branes. The book includes a review of the fundamentals of string theory, making the presentation of the material self-contained while keeping overlap with the earlier book to a minimum. This book conveys the vitality of the current research and places readers at its forefront.

Auteur
Michio Kaku, geb. 1947, ist Professor für Theoretische Physik an der New Yorker City University und hat die Stringtheorie mitentwickelt. Daneben hat er mehrere populärwissenschaftliche Bücher geschrieben und verfasst regelmäßig Beiträge für Zeitungen und Magazine, Hörfunk und Fernsehen.

Résumé

From the reviews:

"...because of its wide range in topics, it becomes extremely handy as a 'reference manual'...Kaku's book covers most of the 'hot topics' from the period 1985 through 1996 in a concise but still quite complete way, it fulfills this task in a superb way." Physicalia

" A comprehensive survey of essentially all recent research undertaken in string theory and related fields the author s ability to present such an enormous variety of material is astonishing, resulting in a book that is up-to-date and thorough." Physics Today

Contenu
I Conformal Field Theory and Perturbation Theory.- 1 Introduction to Superstrings.- 2 BPZ Bootstrap and Minimal Models.- 3 WZW Model, Cosets, and Rational Conformal Field Theory.- 4 Modular Invariance and the ADE Classification.- N = 2 SUSY and Parafermions.- 6 YangBaxter Relation.- 7 Toward a Classification of Conformal Field Theories.- 8 Knot Theory and Quantum Groups.- II Nonperturbative Methods.- 9 String Field Theory.- 10 Non polynomial String Field Theory.- 11 2D Gravity and Matrix Models.- 12 Topological Field Theory.- 13 SeibergWitten Theory.- 14 M-Theory and Duality.- 15 D-Branes and CFT/ADS Duality.