Introduction to String Theory

This course is an introduction to string theory, our foremost theory of quantum gravity, which also gives rise to gauge theories, as we will see. The course will cover bosonic string theory, in particular:

- Classical bosonic string theory
- Light-cone quantisation
- Introduction to conformal field theory
- Path Integral quantisation
- String interactions
- Low-energy effective actions

The lectures will largely follow the online lecture notes on String Theory by David Tong (http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/tong/string/string.pdf).

Requirements: Master's courses in GR & QFT, at least in parallel with this course.

Lecture schedule: The first lecture will take place on Thursday, October 19th, 11am-1pm. The first tutorial will take place on Monday, October 30th, 9am-11am. Subsequently, lectures will take place

• every Thursday 11am-1pm
  

• on alternating Mondays 9am-11am (i.e. October 23rd, November 6th, etc.)

Tutorials will take place

• on alternating Fridays 9am-11am (i.e. October 30th, November 13th, etc.).