SUPERSTRINGS! Summary
Superstring theory is a very exciting area of study because it has the
serious potential to be the right theory for describing the fundamental
nature of our universe. All the elements are in there: quantum physics,
bosons, fermions, gauge groups, and gravity. In the last several
years there has been great progress in understanding the overall structure
of the theory including D-branes and string duality. String theory
has been applied with great success to the study of black hole physics
and quantum gravity. However, there is much work yet to be done.
Some topics which have not been addressed (yet) in this tutorial are:
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M(atrix) Theory: a candidate for a full quantum description of M-theory
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F-theory: a possible 12 dimensional theory
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Supersymmetric gauge theories: the physics of interacting D-branes
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The History of Superstrings: from describing quarks in the 1970's
to spacetime in the 1990's
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More details: phenomenology, mathematical details, calculations,
etc.
