A mini-course on topological strings

Abstract

These are the lecture notes for a short course in topological string theory that I gave at Uppsala University in the fall of 2004. The notes are aimed at PhD students who have studied quantum field theory and general relativity, and who have some general knowledge of ordinary string theory. The main purpose of the course is to cover the basics: after a review of the necessary mathematical tools, a thorough discussion of the construction of the A- and B-model topological strings from twisted N=(2,2) supersymmetric field theories is given. The notes end with a brief discussion on some selected applications.

120 pages, 17 figures

References in corpus (14)

• Black Hole Attractors and the Topological String
• Topological Strings and Integrable Hierarchies
• Mirror Manifolds And Topological Field Theory
• A Perturbative Window into Non-Perturbative Physics
• Strings from Tachyons
• Worldsheet Derivation of a Large N Duality
• c=1 String as the Topological Theory of the Conifold
• String Theory on Calabi-Yau Manifolds
• Quantum Background Independence In String Theory
• Les Houches lectures on matrix models and topological strings
• On the partition sum of the NS five-brane
• Topological strings and their physical applications
• Matrix models, 4D black holes and topological strings on non-compact Calabi-Yau manifolds
• Lectures in Topological Quantum Field Theory

Cited by in corpus (27)

• Open string amplitudes and large order behavior in topological string theory
• Direct Integration of the Topological String
• Holomorphic anomaly and matrix models
• Geometric Transitions, Flops and Non-Kahler Manifolds: II
• Topological strings and large N phase transitions II: Chiral expansion of q-deformed Yang-Mills theory
• Gauge/String Duality in Confining Theories
• Lectures on Mirror Symmetry and Topological String Theory
• Black Hole Meiosis
• The Ricci Curvature of Half-flat Manifolds
• A Note on Topological M5-branes and String-Fivebrane Duality
• D-Branes in Topological String Theory
• Holomorphic Couplings In Non-Perturbative String Compactifications
• The topological open string wavefunction
• The Spectra of Supersymmetric States in String Theory
• Topological G${}_2$ and Spin(7) strings at 1-loop from double complexes
• 4D black holes and holomorphic factorization of the 0A matrix model
• Twistors, strings and supersymmetric gauge theories
• Entanglement entropy and edge modes in topological string theory: I
• SW(3/2,2) subsymmetry in G${}_2$, Spin(7) and N=2 CFTs
• A String Dual for Partially Topological Chern-Simons-Matter Theories
• On perturbative field theory and twistor string theory
• A Weyl-invariant action for chiral strings and branes
• Some comments on the local curve (B-side)
• Aspects géométriques et intégrables des modèles de matrices aléatoires
• Les Houches lectures on non-perturbative Seiberg-Witten geometry
• Supersymmetric Gauge Theories from String Theory
• Study of the OSV Conjecture for 4D N=2 Extremal Black Holes in Type IIB String Theory