Advanced Topics in String Theory

(4 Credits)

Loop diagrams: the partition function of bosonic, fermionic, and heterotic strings. The a?0 limit: low-energy effective Lagrangians for the light modes, Calabi-Yau compactifications, N=1 supersymmetry and supersymmetry breaking. Extended space-time supersymmetry and the constraints on effective Lagrangians of the heterotic and closed superstrings. Conformal and superconformal invariance in two dimensions, the classification of minimal conformal theories. General classification of superstring compactifications. Cosmological solutions, 2-d black holes, the Liouville noncritical string. Fixed-t scattering at high energies, all-loop resummations. Random surfaces and 2-d Einstein gravity, topological field theory.