Summary

Introduction to String Theory

Expanded syllabus

1. Special relativity: A reminder

2. A spacetime with extra compact dimension

3. Special relativity and Electromagnetism in a spacetime with extra compact dimensions

4. Gravitation in a spacetime with extra compact dimensions, and the Planck scale

5. The relativistic point particle: The action and its invariants

6. The Nambu-Goto action for the classical relativistic string

7. The equations of motion and boundary conditions for the classical relativistic string

8. The solutions of the equations of motion of the classical relativistic string

9. Charge conservation on the world-sheet

10. The world-sheet energy-momentum tensor

11. Lorentz invariance of the string.

12. The light-cone gauge

13. The scalar and vector fields in the light-cone gauge

14. The quantum open string as a collection of harmonic oscillators

15. The Virasoro operators

16. The construction space of states of the open string

17. The Virasoro operators for the closed string

18. The construction space of states of the closed string

Additional topics if time allows:

19. Dbranes and boundary conditions

20. Open strings and Dbranes

21. The charges of open strings and Dbranes

22. The wrapped closed string

23. T-duality