Starts 26 Mar 2025 14:00
Ends 26 Mar 2025 15:30
Central European Time
HECAP Theory Colloquium by Barton Zwiebach - The First 40 Years of String Field Theory
ICTP
Leonardo Building - Budinich Lecture Hall
Abstract:
All the dynamics in the Standard Model of Particle Physics and in General Relativity is described in the framework of relativistic quantum field theory. String field theory, a quantum gauge theory of string fields, was developed with the goal of giving a complete self-consistent framework to string theory. As of 2024 we finally have string field theories for all known versions of string theory.
I will describe these theories and the challenges surmounted to achieve their construction. We will also look at lessons learned and future directions.
All the dynamics in the Standard Model of Particle Physics and in General Relativity is described in the framework of relativistic quantum field theory. String field theory, a quantum gauge theory of string fields, was developed with the goal of giving a complete self-consistent framework to string theory. As of 2024 we finally have string field theories for all known versions of string theory.
I will describe these theories and the challenges surmounted to achieve their construction. We will also look at lessons learned and future directions.
Barton Zwiebach is Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He obtained his Doctorate from Caltech in 1983, working under the supervision of Murray Gell-Mann. His central contributions have been in the area of string field theory, where he did the early work in the construction of the field theory of open strings and then developed the field theory of closed strings. He has also made contributions to the subjects of D-branes with exceptional symmetry, tachyon condensation, and double field theory.