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2002

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September

  

Reviews of topical problems


String theory or field theory?


Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prosp. 53, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation

The status of string theory is reviewed, and major recent developments-especially those in going beyond perturbation theory in the string theory and quantum field theory frameworks — are analyzed. This analysis helps better understand the role and place of string theory in the modern picture of the physical world. Even though quantum field theory describes a wide range of experimental phenomena, it is emphasized that there are some insurmountable problems inherent in it-notably the impossibility to formulate the quantum theory of gravity on its basis — which prevent it from being a fundamental physical theory of the world of microscopic distances. It is this task, the creation of such a theory, which string theory, currently far from completion, is expected to solve. In spite of its somewhat vague current form, string theory has already led to a number of serious results and greatly contributed to progress in the understanding of quantum field theory. It is these developments which are our concern in this review.

Fulltext pdf (832 KB)
Fulltext is also available at DOI: 10.1070/PU2002v045n09ABEH001148
PACS: 11.15.−q, 11.25.−w, 12.20.−m (all)
DOI: 10.1070/PU2002v045n09ABEH001148
URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2002/9/a/
000180542700001
Citation: Marshakov A V "String theory or field theory?" Phys. Usp. 45 915–954 (2002)
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Оригинал: Маршаков А В «Теория струн или теория поля?» УФН 172 977–1020 (2002); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.0172.200209a.0977

References (4) ↓ Cited by (15) Similar articles (20)

  1. The books by `founding fathers’
  2. Polyakov A M Gauge Fields and Strings (Chur: Harwood Acad. Publ., 1987) [Translated into Russian (Chernogolovka: ITF im. L.D. Landau, 1995)]
  3. Green M B, Schwarz J H, Witten E Superstring Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1987) [Translated into Russian (Moscow: Mir, 1990)]
  4. Polchinski J G String Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998)

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