introduction to m theory and ads cft duality - john h schwarz

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1、CALT-68-2204hep-th/9812037IntroductiontoMTheoryandAdS/CFTDuality1JohnH.SchwarzCaliforniaInstituteofTechnology,Pasadena,CA91125,USAAbstractAnintroductorysurveyofsomeofthedevelopmentsthathavetakenplaceinsuperstringtheoryinthepastfewyearsispresented.Themainfocusisonthreeparticulardua

2、lities.Therstoneistheappearanceofan11thdimensioninthestrongcouplinglimitofthetypeIIAtheory,whichgiverisetoMtheory.ThesecondoneisthedualitybetweenthetypeIIBtheorycompactiedonacircleandMtheoryonatwo-torus.Thenaltopicisanintroductiontotherecentlyproposeddualitybetweensuperstringth

3、eoryorMtheoryoncertainantideSitterspacebackgroundsandconformallyinvariantquantumeldtheories.arXiv:hep-th/9812037v211Dec1998TobepublishedintheProceedingsofQuantumAspectsofGaugeTheories,Supersymmetry,andUnicationCorfu,Greece{September19981WorksupportedinpartbytheU.S.Dept.ofEnergyu

4、nderGrantNo.DE-FG03-92-ER40701.1IntroductionItisapleasuretospeakinsucharemarkablevenue{theoldfortressofCorfuCity.Itisnotoftenthatonegetstomeetinsideatouristattraction.ThelastsuchoccasionformewasataconferencethattookplaceinsidetheChateaudeBlois.Manyofthetalksinthisconferencewillcov

5、errecentdevelopmentsinsuperstringtheoryandMtheory{inparticular,therecentAdS/CFTconjecture.Sincetheorganizershavechosentoplacemerstintheschedule,andsincenoteveryonehereisanexpertinthesematters,Ihavedecided(inconsultationwiththeorganizers)togivearathergeneralintro-ductiontosomeofth

6、eserecentdevelopments.Hopefully,thiswillhelptoprovidesomeofthebackgroundthatisneededforthemorespecializedtalksthatwillfollow.Itshouldalsorelievethosespeakersoftheneedtogiveanextendedreviewofthebasics.AsI'msuremostofyouknow,thetermMtheorywasintroducedbyWittentodescribethe11-dimensi

7、onalquantumtheorywhoselowenergyeectivedescriptionis11-dimensionalsupergravity.However,theusageofthistermhasbeenextendedbymanyauthors(includingmyselfonoccasion)torefertotheunderlyingtheorythatreducestothevedierent10-dimensionalsuperstringtheoriesinvariousspeciallimits,aswellasth

8、e at11-dimensionaltheoryinasixths