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String Theory Seminars
Physics/Mathematics/CITA
Amanda W.
Peet, Physics, University of Toronto
Fall Semester, academic year 2000-2001
Overview
Superstring/M
("string") theory is the most promising candidate for
a unified quantum theory of the gravitational, electroweak, and
strong interactions. It illuminates the physics of ultra-short
distance and ultra-high energy, and provides ways of building
models of our low-energy world. There has been enormous progress
in the field since late 1994. One result which caught the attention
of many researchers was the 1996 Strominger-Vafa computation of
the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of certain black holes using stringy
"D-brane" techniques. Since then, a more general understanding
of black hole entropy in string theory has been obtained with
the aid of the "Black Hole Correspondence Principle".
Further exciting new results, such as the "Gravity/Gauge
Correspondences", have been obtained by studying aspects
of black holes.
This seminar on string theory and related topics is intended
to be interesting to researchers from Physics, Mathematics,
and CITA. Faculty, postdocs, and graduate students are all
welcome. Amanda W. Peet, new Assistant Professor of Physics,
will kick off the seminar with a series of informal lectures
on "Black Holes and their Entropy in String Theory".
Questions from researchers from various backgrounds will be
encouraged; the number of talks and the level of technicality
will depend on interest. A basic level of familiarity with General
Relativity and Quantum Field Theory is recommended, but not
required. Lecture notes from Peet's TASI lectures on the same
subject, geared for a High Energy Theoretical Physics PhD student
audience, are available here.
Schedule
The seminars will be held on the following Thursdays:
October 12, 12:00-13:00 (at the
Fields Institute)
October 19, 12:00-13:00 (MP 1115, 11th floor of Burton Tower,
McLennan Physical Laboratories (MP) 255 Huron Street)
October 26, 12:00-13:00 (at the Fields Institute)
November 2, 12:00-13:00 (at the Fields Institute)
November 9, 12:00-13:00 (at the Fields Institute)
November 16, 12:00-13:00 (at the Fields Institute)
November 23, 12:00-13:00 (at the Fields Institute)
November 30, 12:00-13:00 (at the Fields Institute)
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