This is a wonderful book for someone just learning string theory. I'm trying to do all the problems and many of them are quite tough (I have a PhD in physics.) The thought that these problems are assigned to undergraduates at MIT is somewhat depressing - either I'm getting senile or they are awesom
A First Course in String Theory
โ Scribed by Barton Zwiebach
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- Year
- 2004
- Tongue
- English
- Leaves
- 573
- Category
- Library
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
โฆ Synopsis
This is a wonderful book for someone just learning string theory. I'm trying to do all the problems and many of them are quite tough (I have a PhD in physics.) The thought
that these problems are assigned to undergraduates at MIT is somewhat depressing - either I'm getting senile or they are awesomely talented. Maybe a little of both.
I wish I could get a hold of the solutions (which are available to instructors). Many of the problems teach things about theoretical physics IN GENERAL which I wish I had learned
as an undergraduate (or even as a grad student.)
One of the negatives in struggling with this material is the thought that string theory is really just a step toward M-theory, which is the best candidate for a "theory of everything."
One has to master four or five different string theories and then be told that strings are really not relevant to the currently accepted theory. Since I am retired and have plenty of time, I will continue to struggle with it, but it takes plenty of patience.
In the hands of an instructor who can review (or present solutions) to the problems, this is a wonderful book.
Congratulations to Professor Zwiebach for producing a great text.
๐ SIMILAR VOLUMES
An accessible introduction to string theory, this book provides a detailed and self-contained demonstration of the main concepts involved. The first part deals with basic ideas, reviewing special relativity and electromagnetism while introducing the concept of extra dimensions. D-branes and the clas
Barton Zwiebach is once again faithful to his goal of making string theory accessible to undergraduates. Complete and thorough in its coverage, the author presents the main concepts of string theory in a concrete and physical way in order to develop intuition before formalism, often through simplifi