School on Fundamental Aspects of String Theory

Start time: May 23, 2016

Ends on: May 30, 2016

Location: São Paulo, Brazil

Venue: IFT-UNESP

Organizers:

• Nathan Berkovits (ICTP-SAIFR &  IFT-UNESP, Brazil)
• Carmen Núñez (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Lecturers:

• Rajesh Gopakumar (ICTS-Bangalore, India): Topological strings II
• Kumar Narain (ICTP-Trieste, Italy): Topological strings I
• Martin Schnabl (Institute of Physics AS CR – Prague, Czech Republic): String field theory
• Ashoke Sen (Harish-Chandra Research Institute – Allahabad, India): Superstring perturbation theory
• Barton Zwiebach (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA): Double field theory

Description:

This 8-day school on fundamental aspects of string theory will cover advanced topics including superstring field theory, double field theory, topological strings, and duality symmetries. Participants will be assumed to be familiar with quantum field theory, supersymmetry and basic properties of bosonic string and superstring theory. Limited funds are available for travel and local expenses of participants, and preference will be given to PhD students.

This school will be followed by the VIII Workshop on String Field Theory and Related Aspects. Candidates may apply either for one or both activities.

Announcement

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Photos:

• Photos of school

School Program: updated on May 5

Click on the (video)  to watch the videos and and (notes) to download the lecture files

May 23-25,2016

May 26-30,2016

Lecture content and references:

Rajesh Gopakumar: Topological Strings II
Worldsheet definition of A-model and B-model (adjusted according to what Narain covers) – closed and open; Topological Mirror Symmetry; Enumerative geometry and topological strings; String dualities, BPS invariants and Topological Strings; Topological vertex; Open-Closed String Duality for Topological Strings;

References:
1. A Mini-course on topological strings
Marcel Vonk (Uppsala U., Inst. Theor. Phys.). Apr 2005. 120 pp. e-Print: hep-th/0504147
2. Enumerative geometry and knot invariants
Marcos Marino (Harvard U., Phys. Dept.). Oct 2002. 69 pp. e-Print: hep-th/0210145
3. Chern-Simons theory and topological strings
Marcos Marino (CERN). Jun 2004. 46 pp. Published in Rev.Mod.Phys. 77 (2005) 675-720 e-Print: hep-th/0406005

Kumar Narain: Topological Strings I
I am planning to cover ’93 paper (hep-th/9307158) as well as ’95 paper (hep-th/9507115) on heterotic side as that will introduce the Schwinger formula which will then set the stage for Gopakumar-Vafa. It will greatly help if participants have already gone through VV (Nucl.Phys. B288 (1987) 357) and VVD(Commun.Math.Phys. 115 (1988) 649-690) papers (of course also Friedan-Martinec-Shenker ( Nucl.Phys. B271 (1986) 93-165 ) ).

Ashoke Sen: Superstring Perturbation Theory
My lectures will be on dealing with infrared divergences in string theory using string field
theory. The handwritten notes for my 33 lecture graduate course on this topic can be found at
Mritunjay Verma notes (the file size is about 200MB, so it will take a while to download).

Martin Schnabl: String Field Theory
1) SFT – motivation to study; string field; actions; Q and quick review of BRST
2) Witten’s star product, surface states,sliver frame, KBc
3) Analytic solutions (tachyon vacuum, marginal deformations, multibranes)
4) Ellwood conjecture and construction of boundary state
5) Nontrivial BCFT backgrounds and Erler-Maccaferri solution

Good introductory reviews are:
Y. Okawa, “Analytic methods in open string field theory” Prog.Theor.Phys. 128 (2012) 1001-1060 DOI: 10.1143/PTP.128.1001
W. Taylor, B. Zwiebach, “D-Branes, Tachyons, and String Field Theory” http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0311017

Barton Zwiebach: Double Field Theory
My lectures will cover T-duality in string theory and the efforts to display
manifestly the associated duality symmetries of low-energy effective field
theories that arise from string theory. We will show how Double Field
Theory (DFT) provides such formulation and explore the connections with
generalized geometry. We will discuss efforts to include α’ corrections into
the formalism.

Useful references: https://arxiv.org/abs/1109.1782, https://arxiv.org/abs/1309.2977, https://arxiv.org/abs/1510.00005

Additional Information:

List of Confirmed Participants: Updated on May 18

Registration: ALL participants and speakers should register. The registration will be on May 23  at the institute, from 9:30 to 10:30.  You can find arrival instructions at http://www.ictp-saifr.org/?page_id=195

Accommodation: Participants and Speakers whose accommodation has been provided by the institute will stay at The Universe Flat. Each participant/speaker, whose accommodation has been provided by the institute, has received the accommodation details individually by email.

Emergency number: 9 8233 8671 (from São Paulo city); +55 11 9 8233 8671 (from abroad), 11 9 8233 8671 (from outside São Paulo).

Ground transportation instructions: 

Ground transportation from Guarulhos Airport to The Universe Flat

Ground transportation from Congonhas Airport to the Universe Flat

Ground transportation from The Universe Flat to the institute