A Quick Course on String Compactification

An informal lecture series on Zoom, 2021 summer

Objective: The primary target audience was the 2nd-year stringy graduate students at U. Tokyo Physics Major Course, who have finished reading Polchinski's textbook until Chapter 12 (D-brane) and Giveon--Kutasov review Chap. 2. The purpose of this quick course is to provide a broad-brush picture of string copmactification that is not as simple as flat space or torus.

In this 2021 version, particle pheno interests are kept to minimum. The 2018 version had more materials in particle pheno, less in worldsheet perspectives and stringy aspects at short distance.

Day 1: August 16 (Mon): 9:30--12:00     note-01   1.1, 1.2.
Day 2: August 19 (Thu): 9:30--12:00     note-02   1.3--2.1.
Day 3: August 30 (Mon): 9:30--12:00     note-03   2.2--2.5.
Day 4: September 2 (Thu): 9:30--12:00     note-04   2.6--3.1.
Day 5: September 6 (Mon): 9:30--12:00     note-05   3.2--3.4.



Section 1. Compactification in the Language of 10D SUGRA    
    1.1 Bottom-up Motivations for Low-energy Supersymmetry
    1.2 Special Holonomy Manifolds and Partial Supersymmetry Breaking
    1.3 Low-energy Spectrum of Closed String
    1.4 D-brane


Section 2. Introduction to String Duality    
    2.1 T-duality (Type II and Het)
    2.2 M-theory and Type IIA
    2.3 F-theory and Type IIB
    2.4 Heterotic--Type II duality
    2.5 mirror symmetry
    2.6 spacetime-SUSY central charge from D-branes
    2.7 string duality with 4D N=1 supersymmetry


Section 3. To Go beyond the Leading Order SUGRA Approximation    
    3.1 Kahler vs non-Kahler, and alpha'-correction to CFT/equation of motions
    3.2 spacetime supersymmetry and worldsheet supersymmetry
    3.3 alpha'-correction to vertex operators
    3.4 stable brane configuration


References are cited in the lecture notes.