Introduction to M Theory and AdS/CFT Duality

Abstract

An introductory survey of some of the developments that have taken place in superstring theory in the past few years is presented. The main focus is on three particular dualities. The first one is the appearance of an 11th dimension in the strong coupling limit of the type IIA theory, which give rise to M theory. The second one is the duality between the type IIB theory compactified on a circle and M theory on a two-torus. The final topic is an introduction to the recently proposed duality between superstring theory or M theory on certain anti de Sitter space backgrounds and conformally invariant quantum field theories.

26 pages; To be published in the Proceedings of a conference held in Corfu, Greece in September 1998. v2: reference added

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• Gauge Theory Correlators from Non-Critical String Theory
• Supergravity and The Large N Limit of Theories With Sixteen Supercharges
• Bulk vs. Boundary Dynamics in Anti-de Sitter Spacetime
• Why is the Matrix Model Correct?
• UV/IR Relations in AdS Dynamics
• String Theory and Classical Absorption by Threebranes
• World Volume Approach to Absorption by Non-dilatonic Branes
• String Theory and Quark Confinement
• Absorption by Branes and Schwinger Terms in the World Volume Theory
• AdS/CFT Correspondence And Topological Field Theory
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Cited by in corpus (12)

• Wilson Loops and Minimal Surfaces
• Superbranes and Superembeddings
• STU/QCD Correspondence
• $Ad{S}_5$ black hole at N=2 supergravity
• Baryon Binding Energy in Sakai-Sugimoto Model
• U-dualities in Type II string theories and M-theory
• Universal Calabi-Yau Algebra: Towards an Unification of Complex Geometry
• World-volume Solitons of the D3-brane in the Background of (p,q) Five-branes
• Energy loss and jet quenching parameter in a thermal non-relativistic, non-commutative Yang-Mills plasma
• Twelve-Dimensional Supersymmetric Gauge Theory as the Large N Limit
• Decay widths of large-spin mesons from the non-critical string/gauge duality
• Interacting Strings in Matrix String Theory