Understanding Fields Using Strings: A Review for Particle Physicists

Abstract

In addition to being a prime candidate for a fundamental unified theory of all interactions in nature, string theory provides a natural setting to understand gauge field theories. This is linked to the concept of "D-branes": extended, solitonic excitations of string theory which can be studied using techniques of string theory and which support gauge fields localized along their world-volumes. It follows that the techniques of string theory can be very useful even for those particle physicists who are not specifically interested in unification and/or quantum gravity. In this talk I attempt to review how strings help us to understand fields. The discussion is restricted to 3+1 spacetime dimensions.

LaTeX, 22 pages, 4 eps figures (included); v2: Name of conference corrected, no other changes

References in corpus (12)

• Gauge Theory Correlators from Non-Critical String Theory
• Wilson loops in large N field theories
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• Baryons And Branes In Anti de Sitter Space
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