Departamento de Física
Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del I.P.N.
Apdo. Postal 14-740, 07000, México D.F., México

STRINGS, BRANES AND DUALITY¹

Hugo García-Compeán²

Abstract:

Some topics on perturbative and non-perturbative string theory are reviewed. The bosonic string kinematics for the free and interacting cases is described. The effective action of the bosonic string and the spectrum is also discussed. Five perturbative superstring theories and their spectra is briefly outlined. Calabi-Yau three-fold compactifications of heterotic strings is given. T-duality in closed and open strings are surveyed and the definition of D-branes is provided. Finally, non-perturbative issues like S-duality, M-theory, F-theory and basics of their non-perturbative Calabi-Yau compactifications are considered.