String Theory, Unification and Quantum Gravity
arXiv:1203.4689 · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-33036-0_1
Abstract
An overview is given of the way in which the unification program of particle physics has evolved into the proposal of superstring theory as a prime candidate for unifying quantum gravity with the other forces and particles of nature. A key concern with quantum gravity has been the problem of ultraviolet divergences, which is naturally solved in string theory by replacing particles with spatially extended states as the fundamental excitations. String theory turns out, however, to contain many more extended-object states than just strings. Combining all this into an integrated picture, called M-theory, requires recognition of the rôle played by a web of nonperturbative duality symmetries suggested by the nonlinear structures of the field-theoretic supergravity limits of string theory.
29 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables; Lectures given at the 6th Aegean Summer School "Quantum Gravity and Quantum Cosmology", Chora, Naxos Island, Greece, 12-17 September 2011
References in corpus (6)
- Simplifying Multiloop Integrands and Ultraviolet Divergences of Gauge Theory and Gravity Amplitudes
- E7(7) constraints on counterterms in N=8 supergravity
- Stringy KLT relations, global symmetries, and E_7(7) violation
- The ultra-violet question in maximally supersymmetric field theories
- E7(7) symmetry in perturbatively quantised N=8 supergravity
- Decoupling Supergravity from the Superstring