Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2022-12-23

Current topics in string theory

Objective

Twenty years have passed since string theory has emerged as a viable candidate in search of a unified theory of elementary particles and their interactions; string theory reconciles general relativity with quantum mechanics and contains the main ingredients of the Standard Model, that is family replication of chiral fermions in non-Abelian representations of an appropriate gauge group. It also naturally incorporates some of the current theoretical ideas for physics beyond the Standard Model such as gauge unification, supersymmetry and extra dimensions. String theory has for a long time evolved as a set of various apparently unrelated sub-theories, each characterized by its own underlying two-dimensional model and its own characteristic effective low-energy description as a supergravity gravity theory. Ten years ago it was realized that a unification of its seemingly different constituents can be achieved via a series of perturbative and non-perturbative dualities. These developments, for which the understanding of the role played by D-branes was essential, have not only enhanced the richness and beauty of the theory, but they have also allowed for new possibilities to describing realistic physics within the framework of string theory. Some more recent developments include the holographic understanding of gauge theories in terms of a dual gravity theory and progress in string compactifications to four dimensions by the inclusion of other backgrounds than just purely gravitational. These and related developments set the stage for the current project which spans a wide net of interconnected directions of research in modern string theory. Indeed the topics to be discussed include the gravity-gauge correspondence, non-critical strings, issues in two-dimensional string theory, integrable structures in string theory, development of string perturbation techniques, topological strings, string compactifications with fluxes and string cosmology. The underlying principle of this proposal is the derivation of a variety of interesting physical phenomena in the world of elementary particle physics and gravitational theory using string theory. Our research project deals with string and field theoretic aspects of supersymmetric theories, in particular targeting at the aim to learn about field theory beyond perturbation theory and about string theory in non-trivial backgrounds. It spans a wide range of topics which demonstrates the scope of the subjects and its interconnection with many fields of mathematical physics and mathematics. The set of problems we intend to address stretches from the study of the mathematical structure of string theory to phenomenological aspects of supersymmetric field theories, such as super-QCD. We are aiming at gaining, on the one hand, a general understanding of the relation between string theory and field theory and, on the other hand, we want to use it to derive very explicit results for some interesting field theories.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

This project has not yet been classified with EuroSciVoc.
Be the first one to suggest relevant scientific fields and help us improve our classification service

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Data not available

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

Data not available

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

Data not available

Coordinator

CERN
EU contribution
No data
Address
ROUTE DE MEYRIN
GENEVA
Switzerland

See on map

Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data

Participants (8)

My booklet 0 0