Amazon.com
There is an ill-concealed skeleton in the closet of physics: "As they are currently formulated, general relativity and quantum mechanics cannot both be right." Each is exceedingly accurate in its field: general relativity explains the behavior of the universe at large scales, while quantum mechanics describes the behavior of subatomic particles. Yet the theories collide horribly under extreme conditions such as black holes or times close to the big bang. Brian Greene, a specialist in quantum field theory, believes that the two pillars of physics can be reconciled in superstring theory, a theory of everything.
Superstring theory has been called "a part of 21st-century physics that fell by chance into the 20th century." In other words, it isn't all worked out yet. Despite the uncertainties--"string theorists work to find approximate solutions to approximate equations"--Greene gives a tour of string theory solid enough to satisfy the scientifically literate.
Though Ed Witten of the Institute for Advanced Study is in many ways the human hero of The Elegant Universe, it is not a human-side-of-physics story. Greene's focus throughout is the science, and he gives the nonspecialist at least an illusion of understanding--or the sense of knowing what it is that you don't know. And that is traditionally the first step on the road to knowledge. --Mary Ellen Curtin
Book Description
"[Greene] develops one fresh new insight after another...In the great tradition of physicists writing for the masses,
The Elegant Universe sets a standard that will be hard to beat." --George Johnson, The New York Times Book Review
In a rare blend of scientific insight and writing as elegant as the theories it explains, Brian Greene, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of 11 dimensions where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter-from the smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas-is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy.
Green uses everything from an amusement park ride to ants on a garden hose to illustrate the beautiful yet bizarre realities that modern physics is unveiling. Dazzling in its brilliance, unprecedented in its ability to both illuminate and entertain,
The Elegant Universe is a tour de force of science writing-a delightful, lucid voyage through modern physics that brings us closer than ever to understanding how the universe works.
Customer Reviews:
Anyone who is curious about the horizons of theoretical physics will enjoy this book.......2007-08-30
In this brilliantty articulated and refreshingly clear book, Greene, a leading string theorist, relates the scientific story and the human struggle behind the search for the ultimate theory. String theory, as the author vividly and easily describes, reveals a vision of the universe that is sending shock waves through the world of physics. Thrilling and revolutionary ideas such as new dimensions hidden within the fabric of space, black holes transmuting into elementary particles, rips and puncutures in the space time continuum, gigantic universes interchangealbe with minusclule ones, and a wealth of others are playing a pivotal role as physicists use string theory to grapple with some of the deepest questions of the ages.
Almost 5 Stars.......2007-07-19
Although I felt this book was excellent and covered all the bases there were a few areas that lacked for me and I couldn't quite give it 5 stars. The book started out phenomenally and the section on quantum mechanics was the best that I've read. The analogies that Mr. Greene used made the concepts clear and comprehendable but there were a few chapters in the middle where he used no analogies and I found myself completely lost even after re-reading the chapters. I might be too much of a layman for this book and that would certainly not be Mr. Greene's fault. There were additional parts of the book where I found myself easily destracted and those chapters were almost a chore to finish. Over all I think parts of this book are great for readers who are just begining to study this subject but other whole chapters are definately not.
First half zipped along with insight after insight........2007-07-19
First half zipped along with insight after insight. Second half got a bit heavy and bogged down. Overall I'm glad I made it through.
science or science fiction? .......2007-07-08
"Theoretical physicist is the one whose experiments don't work".
So says my friend, an engineer by profession, and The Elegant Universe fully confirms this view - more, since we learn that the theories of modern physics are beyond our technological ability to test them experimentally.
The theories themselves are indeed very elegant, composed with great care for estetics and symmetry, and well illustrated by pictures. Nonetheless, we are left with an impression that most of it is the stuff of phantasy, and just as one calculation will "prove" some idea, another set of equations will "disprove" it with identical claim to "scientific truth". I've put all this terms in quotes because the maybe factor of all proofs is too strong to take the presented theories seriously. The author admits that all the calculations are based on approximations and numerous assumptions, raising from still more approximations and probabilities. And when the result is absurd, the theorists quickly solve the problem by inventing one more spatial dimention, not accessible to our perceptions because it never expanded from its initial state.
Actually, the whole string theory deals with aspects of reality not accessible to our perceptions, and not provable by any experiments. Is it still reality or already a fiction? We don't know, and chances are will never know.
With all this, it is indeed an extremely elegant text, beautifully written and holding our attention all the way to the end. I just wish the author did not say all of the time that string theory had been "discovered", since for all we know theories are not material reality, such as a continent of America or a rare species of a butterfly, and so they cannot be discovered, theories can only be conceived, invented, or created. This lexical misuse is eye-catching due to the prevalence of hypotheses over the facts so stronly visible in string theory.
Crackling and sizzling ! - This one requires some attention and tenacity though........2007-06-27
A good book which covers the below topics
1) Requirement of single physical law which brings together all the four fundamental forces: Electromagnetic, Strong nuclear, weak nuclear and gravity.
2) Disparity between theory of relatively (the world of the big) with quantum mechanics (world of the very small)
2) The need of a higher theory to explain the standard model (Explanation for the disparate mass and charges of the subatomic particles)
3) The concept of 11 dimensional space; Mass and charge of the numerous particles found in atom smashers being a result of frequency of vibrations of strings (closed or open) in different dimensions. Meaning a string vibrating with a certain frequency along one of the hidden 7 pinched up spatial dimensions (also termed calabi Yau spaces) will represent a subatomic particle
4) Membrane theory (2 branes, 3 branes etc)
5) M theory unifying the 5 known strings theories (by the addition of another spatial dimension)
6) Thus everything in this universe including the keyboard you are right now typing on is made up of tiny vibrating strings and below this level there is nothing. A string would be the last divisible entity beyond which it is not possible to divide anymore.
Basically everthing stripped down to strings. This is a book for the reader who doesn't know anything about string theory but wants to learn something. As a general reader, you are not in a position to take a stand for or against string theory, because the person picking up this book will be layman and hence rightly there are no equations, so you have to accept things at face value. If you were more deeply interested you would be a physicist doing his PHD and hence will read more dense and technical books as college courses.
But as a layman, you will also appreciate the paucity of physical evidence to support string theory. Particle physicists consider it the right theory because of its mathematical elegance in it's equations. As a layman, you and I are not able to see this elgance as we dont read equations. So I cant form a real opinion about this but I can say that this book will provide the uninitiated a quick cursory primer on string theory with the help of analogies. But this book wont make you believe or disbelieve string theory but you will become more aquainted with what this hype is all about.
regards, Vikram
Book Description
The two volumes that comprise String Theory provide an up-to-date, comprehensive account of string theory. Volume 1 provides a thorough introduction to the bosonic string, based on the Polyakov path integral and conformal field theory. The first four chapters introduce the central ideas of string theory, the tools of conformal field theory, the Polyakov path integral, and the covariant quantization of the string. The book then treats string interactions: the general formalism, and detailed treatments of the tree level and one loop amplitudes. Toroidal compactification and many important aspects of string physics, such as T-duality and D-branes are also covered, as are higher-order amplitudes, including an analysis of their finiteness and unitarity, and various nonperturbative ideas. The volume closes with an appendix giving a short course on path integral methods, followed by annotated references, and a detailed glossary.
Customer Reviews:
Do yourself a favour and use instead the book by Green Schwarz & Witten or the one by Theisen........2006-08-26
Dr. Polchinski may know a lot on string theory but he doesn't know that much on how to write a book. I have been struggling with this book trying to learn string theory and it has been a total failure. You may think it's me but is not. I have studied chapters 1 to 4. I will announce some of its bad features: 1-The notation is awful specially on chapter 2 when he defines the infinitesimal variation of a physical quantity in a very complicated way, all formulas are presented in terms of awful excesively complicated expresions that make you feel sick (and I'm not joking), also on chapter two he defines a way for applying Wicks theorem (eq.(2.2.7)) using exponential operators but I finally gave up and did it my way for calculating expression (2.2.13). 2-Many of the results are not derived and trying to understand what happen from line to line is, besides being a mystery, in my opinion hard to say the less.
3- On chapter 3 I liked the way he calculates de Faddeev Popov determinant in terms of ghosts and you begin to hope that the book is finally going to start getting better but is not, on page 102 and 'till the end of the chapter (page 118) he starts just throwing a lot of equations that you just can't understand where they came from, specially page 105 where he uses the geodesic distance to higher orders but never explains nor show what this expressions are nor what approximations he is doing, nor where they came from. Then again on page 107 he gives a relation between operators regularized by dimensional regularization and by 'polchinski' regularization, at least the second one is defined but the other is not (on curved space)and he just shows some awful equations that no one knows where they come from. This book has been written for someone who already knows a lot on string theory but it is not for someone who is trying to learn string theory for the first time. All in all try instead the classic book by Green Schwarz and Witten or the one by Theisen and this one use it only as a reference.
The string theory book.......2006-04-01
In short, I think volumes I and II of "String Theory" are the best books on string theory available. Presumably any serious student of string theory will study them both. The writing style is clear, physical considerations are at the forefront, the selection of topics is excellent and the treatment is as up-to-date as any I'm aware of.
Volume I covers the bosonic string. Of course this doesn't provide a realistic model for our universe, but understanding it forms the foundation of the study of more realistic string theories.
The first chapter provides the physical motivation for string theory. A brief description of some current unsolved problems in physics, and how string theory may resolve them, is given. Most notably this includes not only providing a quantum theory of gravity, but also providing a grand unified theory. A brief outline of techniques used throughout the book is given. These are covered in more detail as the book develops and include: the Polyakov action (how to get it from the Nambu-Goto form and why it's more useful), the Polyakov action symmetries, string theory as a two-dimensional quantum field theory, string boundary conditions, the string spectra, supersymmetry (worldsheet and spacetime) and the critical dimension. This is an excellent introduction and nicely sets the stage for the rest of the book.
The next chapter presents conformal field theory. It's also an excellent introduction. In particular covering conformal field theory with anticommuting fields. The Virasoro algebra is also derived. He could have covered these conformal field theory concepts as they came up, but I liked having them in one central location early in the book.
Strings take center stage again in the following chapter as the Polyakov path integral is examined in great detail. Among the results are a calculation of the critical dimension and the recovery of general relativity in the low energy limit of string theory. These are just a couple of the interesting results, there is much more in this chapter.
The following chapters quantize the string, calculate the string spectrum, derive the S-matrix, calculate tree level scattering amplitudes and calculate one-loop amplitudes (higher order amplitudes are covered in the final chapter). One of many things that stand out is his discussion of divergences. He describes the difference between infrared and ultraviolet divergences. After showing ultraviolet divergences are absent in string theory he comments on how the mechanisms that remove them is different for open and closed strings. This is just one example of how physical concepts are kept at the forefront.
The chapter on compactification covers more than just the basics such as (D - 4) dimensions must be compactified and this gives rise to some extra gauge fields. Orbifolds are introduced in this chapter. It also covers T-duality, one of the important (and unexpected) symmetries of string theories. D-branes are also introduced (D-branes are covered in more detail in volume II), obviously this is an important concept in string theory. I was happy to see such important concepts introduced so quickly.
In short, this is a great book. Even with only light coverage of supersymmetry (this is covered in detail in volume II) many interesting and up-to-date topics are presented. Clearly the author put a lot of time into thinking about how to make a difficult subject as approachable as possible. Throughout the book he anticipates questions the reader may have, or maybe should have, and addresses them.
Enlightening text on a murky topic.......2002-09-17
This book succeeds in what seems to be the impossible. It actually presents a clear, up to date, and entertaining version of a field that is still very much in a state of active research and is still, after all these years, on quite uncertain ground. By studying this, the reader who thinks intelligently about the material presented will be able to form his/her own opinions on this still somewhat controversial topic and will be able to converse intelligently with others who have opinions on the topic. I know that for me personally, this text opened up beautiful ideas which, to a large extent, are still unexplored. Before I read this book, my gut feelings about the topic were that it was rather dubious at best, but now that I understand (I think) the basic ideas of the field, I feel quite comfortable in it, indeed almost as if it is completely natural. What I think is one of the best things about this book is that it does not assume the pretense that string theory is on firm ground, that everything is quite certain and that string theory HAS to be the final theory of nature in all its glory. I find this attitude EXTREMELY pretensious and annoying. Instead, it simply covers what we know about string theory, and explains in detail just why it is consistent, and why it offers an explanation for what we see in nature. In short, it leaves just enough room for the imagination of an intelligent reader to philosophize as to the meaning of the theory and as to its ultimate place in nature
As for practical details, it seems to me that the reader should at the very least have a firm understanding of Quantum Field Theory (at least at the level of Weinberg's first volume, see my review on that modern masterpiece), and to a lesser extent of General Relativity, before even attempting to tackle this. I know that I myself, despite the fact that I have read several texts on QFT, had to reread several sizeable chunks of the book to fully digest it.
Good try, but too dense.......2002-04-12
Lets face it, string theory is a difficult subject. But the only reason this book is the best string theory text is because they are all lousy. What it comes down to is string theory is too new for a good textbook writer to have tackled the task. What has happened, is string theory is currently populated by a small group of elite geniuses. So some of these elite geniuses take to writing a book, which turns out to be clear to other geniuses, but maybe not so clear to others, who are nonetheless capable of learning the theory. This happens in all fields, you will find that modern quantum mechanics books are much more readable than volumes written by the founders of the theory. Polchinski has clear writing, but can you solve the problems? If it seems clear but solving the problems is a mystery, it isn't a good book. Why can't people put in lots of examples? Why can't they include solutions to at least odd numbered problems? If they went to all the trouble to write the book they could at least do that. After all the goal is to teach, not to be mysterious. What needs to happen is some physicist with a talent for writing needs to A)Write an undergraduate level text on field theory, and B)write a more accessible book about string theory aimed at people who aren't at the level of Weinberg intelligence wise.
very thorough and complete.......2000-08-22
Polochinski presents upto date developments (mostly in 2nd volume) in string theory such as D-branes and dualities that are not discussed in Green, Witten, Schwarz's Superstring theory text. However, I found GWS's arguments easier to follow because they were intuitively and physically motivated. Although Polchinski's books lack physical insights, he more than makes up for them by completeness of the material, mathematical rigor and helpful exercises. However, I highly recommend that you first get Di Francesco's conformal field theory and read chapters 3-7 , 10 and 12 to get a better feel for stuff like state-operator mappings, Virasoro algebra, OPE's, etc. Although Polchinski claims the books are pretty much self-contained, I would say QFT (probably around lvl of 1st vol. of Weinberg) and GR are min prereq and some knowledge of SUSY, rep. theory of Lie alg, alg. toplogy wouldn't hurt. Lastly, the first edition had many many typos but corrections are frequently updated and you can download them through a website whose address is given in the book (the address in the book has a typo and should read "ucsb").
Book Description
Volume 2: Superstring Theory and Beyond, begins with an introduction to supersymmetric string theories and goes on to a broad presentation of the important advances of recent years. The book first introduces the type I, type II, and heterotic superstring theories and their interactions. It then goes on to present important recent discoveries about strongly coupled strings, beginning with a detailed treatment of D-branes and their dynamics, and covering string duality, M-theory, and black hole entropy, and discusses many classic results in conformal field theory. The final four chapters are concerned with four-dimensional string theories, and have two goals: to show how some of the simplest string models connect with previous ideas for unifying the Standard Model; and to collect many important and beautiful general results on world-sheet and spacetime symmetries.
Customer Reviews:
The definitive introduction to String Theory.......2007-02-27
I used Polchinski Vol I and II to learn String Theory for my PhD thesis. Vol I covers the basics, using the bosonic string to quantize, and Vol II starts off with the perturbative type II and heterotic strings and soon moves on to nonperturbative string theory, elegantly summarizing the dualities, D-branes (which of course Polchinski discovered), Calabi-Yau compactifications, flop transitions etc. Vol II is essentially a reference for modern string theory. The chapter on advanced CFT is wonderfuly written, and is perhaps the best summary of CFT available in any book (even tomes devoted to CFT pale in comparison). The two volumes of Polchinski are clearly a must read for anybody who wishes to understand string theory. It is an exceptionally well written text on a difficult subject.
Great book, wish there was more.......2006-04-01
This book picks up for Volume I left off. Supersymmetry is added to strings, more symmetries are presented, string theory phenomenology is described and many topics introduced in Volume I are developed in more detail. The quality is as good as it was in the previous volume and I think this book is essential reading for anyone attempting to master string theory.
The main addition in this volume is the expanded coverage of supersymmetry. In brief, the early chapter topics include the relation of worldsheet supersymmetry to spacetime supersymmetry, the various types of superstrings (I, IIA, IIB, and Heterotic) and even W-algebras. Calculations of critical dimensions, scattering amplitudes and anomaly cancellations are also done.
After incorporating supersymmetry into D-branes and T-duality (two concepts first introduced in the context of bosonic strings in Volume I), the text moves on to cover strings at strong coupling. It's a great chapter, my favorite of the book. Among the things covered are U-duality, black hole entropy, the black hole information paradox and M-theory.
After a chapter covering conformal field theory in more detail there are two chapters on compactification. One for orbifolds and one for Calabi-Yau spaces. The latter gives a nice overview of the techniques of complex geometry and algebraic topology needed to study Calabi-Yau spaces (there is also an appendix covering much of the math). Phenomenology is touched on in these, but it's in the following chapter that a more fully developed presentation of the possible string theory connection with the standard model and grand unified field theory is given. One thing I enjoyed was that in addition to string specific physics, this chapter discusses more general aspects of grand unified theories.
The final chapter contains a collection of advanced topics, with mirror symmetry being one of them.
To summarize this is a can't miss book for people seeking to understand string theory. Is anything missing? Not really, although more extensive coverage of black holes and D-branes would've been nice. It definitely left me wishing there was a Volume III on the horizon.
Fair exposition.......2001-07-22
In the second volume of the series the author generalizes the results of the first to string theories where supersymmetry is present. The mathematics introduced is non-rigorous, and the strategy is to see how much of the formalism for the bosonic case can be carried over to the case where fermions are present. The book is purely an exposition on the subject of string theory, and so no attempt is made to give the reader an in-depth explanation of the ideas and concepts in this area. This is particularly noticeable in the chapter on Calabi-Yau compactification and in the discussion on mirror symmetry in the last chapter. Here is a brief outline of the contents of the book:
- Generalize the mass-shell condition (Klein-Gordon equation in momentum space) by using the Dirac equation.
- The gamma matrices will serve as CM modes of an anticommuting world sheet field.
- The resulting world-sheet supercurrents generate the superconformal transformations of the superconformal algebra.
- Counting the number of (3/2, 0) currents classifies the different superconformal field theories.
- Standard quantization techniques for constrained systems are applied.
- Free SCFTs can be obtained with the vanishing of the central charge giving 10 as the critical dimension.
- SCFT on a circle gives two periodicity conditions for the matter fermions (Ramond and Neveu-Schwarz sectors).
- Ramond and Neveu-Schwarz algberas result. - Holomorphicity constraints give bosonization via the relation between the R sector vertex operators and bosonic winding state vertex operators.
- In 10 flat dimensions, 16 sectors result from the R and NS sectors, 6 of which are empty.
- Consistency conditions yield type IIA and IIB superstring theories.
- The vacuum amplitude for a closed superstring can be found by imposing modular invariance.
- Divergences cancell in the cylinder, Mobius strip, and Klein bottle graphs.
- Generalize preceding constructions by looking for sets of holomorphic and antiholomorphic currents whose Laurent coefficients form a closed algebra.
- Consider algebras that are different on the left- and right-moving sides of the closed string, obtaining the heterotic string.
- Setting the dimensions to be the same at each side and 32 left-moving spin-1/2 fields gives the SO(32) string.
- Split these fields into sets of 16 with independent boundary conditions to get the E8 X E8 heterotic string.
- Use supersymmetry constraints to study interactions of massless degrees of freedom.
- Tree-level interactions can be studied within low-energy supergravity; one-loop gives rise to anomalies.
- Anomalies cancell in type IIA, IIB, type I, and heterotic string theories.
- Use string perturbation theory to calculate amplitudes and interactions.
- Introduce supersymmetry in toroidally compactified string theory, to obtain D-branes which are BPS states and carry R-R charges.
- Type I, IIA, IIB string theories become states in a single theory.
- Study strongly coupled strings using D-brane states.
- The five string theories are limits of a single theory in 11-dimensional spacetime.
- Study conformal field theories as a prolegomena to analyzing string compactification.
- Study string compactification via free world-sheet conformal field theories or interacting exactly solvable conformal field theories.
- Connect the compactified string theory to the Standard Model.
- Start with orbifolds and then the more general Calabi-Yau manifolds.
- Techniques from algebraic geometry are brought in to study the properties of Calabi-Yau manifolds.
- Deduce an effective (low-energy) four-dimensional action using the topology of Calabi-Yau manifolds.
- Elaborate on the physics of four-dimensional string theory.
- Try to deal with the strong CP problem using Peccei-Quinn symmetry and the resulting axion field.
- Try to understand how gauge symmetries arise in the different string theories and how they are related to the ones in the Standard Model.
- Try to connect the different mass scales in string theory.
- Study more advanced topics in string theory, such as N = 2 superconformal algebras, type II superstrings on Calabi-Yau manifolds, string theories on the 4-dimensional Calabi-Yau manifold K3, minimal models, and mirror symmetry.
- Mirror manifolds can be constructed explicitly using Gepner models.
- Use mirror symmetry to obtain the full low energy field theory at the string tree level.
- Flop transitions can occur in string theory, giving dynamical changes in topology.
Currently one of the standards.......2001-03-14
Polchinski's book on string theory is a very well written book about the subject. Also, the problems given in the book are valuable for a further understanding. Using it together with the book by Green, Schwarz, Witten one will afterwards have indeed little problems understanding the papers on this subject. However one caveat: if one reads this book, he or she shoudl be always aware that this topic is still deeply a research subject and by no means settled like mechanics. If this is always kept in mind, then this book is of considerable help in understanding one of the current frontiers of physics.
Perfect book!.......1999-06-25
Reading this book is the easiest way to become familiar with various topics that seemed to be extremely difficult before. The reader then shouldn't have any problems with understanding current research papers.
Book Description
Designed as a sequel to the authors' Introduction to Gauge Field Theory, Supersymmetric Gauge Field Theory and String Theory introduces first-year graduate students to supersymmetric theories, including supergravity and superstring theories. Starting with the necessary background in quantum field theory, the book covers the three key topics of high-energy physics. The emphasis is on practical calculations rather than abstract generalities or phenomenological results. Where possible, the authors show how to calculate, connecting the theoretical with the phenomenological. While the field continues to advance and grow, this book addresses the basic theory at the core and will likely remain relevant even if more advanced ideas change.
Customer Reviews:
A great introduction to supersymmetry and string theory.......2001-07-22
Bailin & Love is a really great book to begin learning supersymmetry from. I read this book while simultaneously reading the first few chapters of Wess & Bagger's susy and sugra text. Much of the detailed calculation and attention to details is missing in B&L and can be found in more sophisticated texts (such as Wess & Bagger and the Weinberg text). I found B&L a good place for wordy explanations which are sorely lacking in W&B. B&L also does a good job of connecting susy to phenomenology by introducing the minimally supersymmetric standard model. The susy in B&L is done in four-component notation to make it more familiar with QED and electroweak calculations. On top of this, all of the calculations are done with component fields; superfields are used only for organization. No formalism of supergraphs is used. Supergravity is also introduced, once again in a more wordy fashion than W&B. Apparently, much of the susy phenomenology is similar to the "Supersymmetry Primer" article by Stephen Martin....
String theory in Bailin & Love is done in a similar fashion as the susy: lots of words without the messy calculation. B&L don't bother with conformal field theory at all and use basically the "old covariant quantization". Once again though, B&L is a great thing to be reading as a companion to Green Schwarz Witten or as a companion to Polchinski.
In the end, Bailin & Love is a great place to begin learning about supersymmetry and string theory. I read it after a year of quantum field theory and found it very quick and easy to read. Bailin & Love does a good job of getting the reader in a good position to read the more advanced texts (Wess & Bagger, Weinberg for susy and GSW and Polchinski for strings). Unfortunately, there are many typos in the equations. Corrections can be found at the author's page ...
Intersting observations for the hard physics.......1998-12-18
I really enjoyed the observations of professor Bailin about gauge theory, which is quite useful in the field of submoleculer physics and wave theory. However, his writing is quite scientific, which is to be expected in this type of field, but if particle physics floats your boat, then this would be a good book to buy.
Average customer rating:
- It would be easier just to set fire to your money than to order this
- Grade-school prose, very short, yet padded
- Not much real science in this booklet
- Not for the advanced physics reader
- Much better than expected.
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Our Superstring Universe: Strings, Branes, Extra Dimensions and Superstring-M Theory
Jr. L. E. Lewis
Manufacturer: iUniverse
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ASIN: 0595275893 |
Book Description
This book is intended as an introduction to what soon may prove to be the most important theory of scienceÂ…ever. It is a theory that is still evolving, but it already shows great promise of explaining the most fundamental mysteries of nature. The theory is based on the simple concept of miniscule vibrating strings as the source of all matter and forces in our universe.
Our Superstring Universe begins with the big bang and traces the evolution of matter and force strings as they form and become the building blocks of our evolving universe. Then the focus shifts to the properties of strings and how they fit into the current knowledge of particle physics. The book concludes with discussions of the quest for experimental proof of strings and a look into the sometimes surprising, and always amazing, potential of superstring-M theory.
Customer Reviews:
It would be easier just to set fire to your money than to order this .......2006-07-04
Normally I wouldn't bother wasting any time or effort even mentioning such a pathetic excuse for a book, but then I realized that maybe the one small, positive thing could come out of the mistake I made in ordering this garbage is that I could warn others against making the same error.
I came across this thing while clicking around Amazon searching for books about the universe and particularly string theory. Fascinated by the implications of string theory, I wanted more info, and when "Our Superstring Universe" crept out of the shadows, it actually seemed like a decent choice: a concise, understandable summary of string theory that was up-to-date and professionally done. I emphasize: this is what it SEEMED to be. So I took a chance and ordered it, and when it arrived, the only lesson I got was in how appearances can be deceiving.
First off, I don't know if the author even truly understands the concepts he's writing about. Inventing his own (highly suspect) terminology and glossing over several things he should be explaining in detail (as other reviews have noted), I immediately got the sense that this was not a trustworthy source for information on string theory. Instead, I got the sense that this author realized that string theory is a "hot" field, and he wanted to get in on the action... a lot of science writers have made names for themselves (not to mention getting their books on bestseller lists) in this area.
But wait! As if that isn't bad enough, it gets even worse. The diagrams and illustrations are not only pointless filler material, they look like something a 4th-grader might have printed out from a mid-1980's home computer for a school paper. I am 100% serious. It would be hilarious if not for the fact that I paid good money for what was billed as a cutting-edge book.
The bottom line is this: there are so many excellent books on this subject, as well as webpages devoted to it, that spending good money on "Our Superstring Universe" would be a very foolish move. Buyer Beware!
Grade-school prose, very short, yet padded.......2005-03-16
This little book has 128 pages of text. After some cosmology and particle physics, discussion of string theory commences on pages 53-57, conintuing on 73-102, 110-111, and 115-125, for a total of 48 pages. Subtract maybe another 25% for amateurish diagrams that do nothing but repeat the text, massive white space, and constant repetition, and you end up with about 36 pages of content on the subject of the title of this book.
I'm not sure who the target audience is for this work. It contains no mathematics beyond addition. It contains sentences such as this: "The nine planets of our solar system, in order of distance from the sun are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto." Or: "Dividing by a number greater than one yields a smaller number." What do you think, maybe 5th graders?
The content is necessarily shallow, tossing out buzzwords, with no continuity, no real explanations. Branes are never actually defined. M-theory is never defined beyond being the theory that ties together all the other string theories. Somehow. I wonder what the "M" stands for.
Not much real science in this booklet.......2004-11-01
The pictures and tables are so poor in quality and printing that would have been wiser not to include them.
To make matters worst, the author attempts but completely fails to explain anything in this booklet.
There are websites built and maintained by amateurs and enthusiasts that are far better sources.
If you're looking for good books on M-Theory and related subjects, buy "The Elegant Universe" and "The Fabric of the Cosmos".
Not for the advanced physics reader.......2003-12-09
Probably a fair book for somebody's first book on String Theory, but definitely not for the advanced reader who is looking for new news. The author covers a lot of areas of quantum physics, but not in any real depth or background. In his first section on string theory he barley talks about strings. He introduces the concept well, and discusses the mathematical challenges of the string theory revolutions in more-or-less, introductory terms. Makes use of diagrams, but seemingly to take up space, rather than visual aids.
I read the entire book in about three hours.
Much better than expected........2003-12-02
This book is very well written and it gets right down to the point. It is, also, very clear in concept with only a few points here and there that might have needed a better explanation. This is only an introductory edition, and if more in-depth knowledge is needed I recommend: The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. Overall: VERY GOOD.
Book Description
Available for the first time in paperback, String Theory comprises two volumes which present an up-to-date, comprehensive account of the subject. Volume 1, An Introduction to the Bosonic String, provides a thorough introduction to the bosonic string, based on the Polyakov path integral and conformal field theory. Volume 2, Superstring Theory and Beyond, begins with an introduction to supersymmetric string theories and progresses to a broad presentation of the important advances of recent years. Both volumes contain an annotated reference section, and a detailed glossary of important terms and concepts. Many exercises are included to re-inforce the text's main points as well as stimulate additional ideas. The volumes are an essential text/reference for graduate students and researchers in theoretical physics, particle physics and relativity.
Customer Reviews:
Great value.......2006-10-27
This 2 volume set is truly a great deal, since it probably is the best book on the subject. The first volume introduces the bosonic string thoroughly. There are problem sections in each chapter, but no answers. At the end of the book, there is a list of key concepts, which makes finding related subjects easier via the index, which is well organised. The second volume starts off with the (fermionic) superstring, which could have been done more extensively, since the super-Virasoro algebra and super-CFT are more or less stated, which is in contrast to the detailed derivations of the first volume. Nevertheless, it is a wonderful treatment of superstring theory and the more advanced topics that have been introduced in the first volume or for which the basic ingredients have been discussed. The book introduces modern research concepts that are not contained in the standard reference by Green, Schwarz & Witten, which is not as easy to read as Polchinski's 2 volume set. Both volumes have large reference lists to textbooks and articles, which come in handy, when you need some more information.
In order to be able to read the book, one needs basic knowledge of quantum field theory and Lie algebras, but some of the concepts needed are discussed briefly or references to other works are given.
Studying string theory without this book simply would not be the same. For any self-respecting physicist with an interest in string theory this book is a definitive must.
a thorough introduction.......2000-06-20
This is the ultimate starting point for students who want to enter the field of string theory. It discusses most subject in great detail. However in can't be self contained or complete at every stage since progresses in string theory are being made every day. Nevertheless it provides enough background to understand current articles.
Average customer rating:
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The Physics of Quasicrystals: Lectures and Reprints
Paul J. Steinhardt
Manufacturer: World Scientific Pub Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Crystallography
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ASIN: 9971502275 |
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1989 Summer School in High Energy Physics and Cosmology (Ictp Series in Theoretical Physics, Vol 6)
Summer School in High Energy Physics and Cosmology , and
J. C. Pati
Manufacturer: World Scientific Pub Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 9810201745 |
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Bosonic Strings: A Mathematical Treatment (Ams/Ip Studies in Advanced Mathematics)
Jurgen Jost
Manufacturer: American Mathematical Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0821826441 |
Book Description
Presented in this book is a mathematical treatment of Bosonic string theory from the point of view of global geometry. As motivation, the author presents the theory of point particles and Feynman path integrals. He considers the theory of strings as a quantization of the classical Plateau problem for minimal surfaces. The conformal variance of the relevant functional, the Polyakov action or (in mathematical terminology) the Dirichlet integral, leads to an anomaly in the process of quantization. The mathematical concepts needed to resolve this anomaly via the Faddeev-Popov method are introduced, specifically the geometry of the Teichmuüller and moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces and the corresponding function spaces, i.e., Hilbert spaces of Sobolev type and diffeomorphism groups. Other useful tools are the algebraic geometry of Riemann surfaces and infinite-dimensional determinants. Also discussed are the boundary regularity questions. The main result is a presentation of the string partition function as an integral over a moduli space of Riemann surfaces. Some new physical concepts, such as D-branes, are also discussed.
This volume offers a mathematically rigorous treatment of some aspects of string theory, employs a global geometry approach, systematically treats strings with boundary, and carefully explains all mathematical concepts and tools.
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Cosmic Strings and Other Topological Defects
A. Vilenkin ,
E. P. S. Shellard ,
Alexander Vilenkin , and
E. Paul S. Shellard
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0521654769 |
Book Description
This book is a comprehensive and coherent introduction to the role of cosmic strings and other topological defects in the universe. After an introduction to standard cosmological theory and the theory of phase transitions in the early universe, the book then describes, in turn, the properties, formation, and cosmological implications of cosmic strings, monopoles, domain walls and textures. It concludes with a chapter considering the role of topological defects in inflationary universe models. Ample introductory material is included to make the book readily accessible. It will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology.
Customer Reviews:
Good book, though dated.......2000-04-27
With so much having happened in cosmology in the past several years, pretty much any book not written very recently or about intro topics has lost some of its relevence. With that restriction in place here, one still finds this book to be very informative and useful. Many pioneering efforts are encapsulated here, and although alternative theories have surpassed some of the theories presented in this book any cosmologist should have this book on his/her shelf.
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NOVA - The Elegant Universe
The Universe in a Nutshell
A Brief History of Time
A Briefer History of Time
