Duality and M-Theory

December 6 - December 18

Institut Henri Poincare

Chris Hull (Queen Mary College, London/LPTENS)

Presently no lecture notes exist

Lecture 1 UNITY OF SUPERSTRINGS DUALITIES

• S, T and U dualities

• Dualities between different string theories: IIA/IIB, IIA/Heterotic, Heterotic/Type I

Lecture 2 WHAT IS M-THEORY?

• Strong coupling limit of IIA string

• BPS states in 11 dimensions

• Strong coupling limits and dynamics of M-theory compactifications

Lecture 3 BRANES AND SPACE AND TIME

• IIB string from M-theory and F-theory

• Role of wrapped branes and space-time geometry

Lecture 4 LIMITS, SINGULARITIES AND SYMMETRIES

• Orbifolds and orientifolds

• Type I string and Horava-Witten construction