Superstring Theory 25th Anniversary Edition

Twenty-five years ago, Michael Green, John Schwarz, and Edward Witten wrote two volumes on string theory. Published during a period of rapid progress in this subject, these volumes were highly influential for a generation of students and researchers. Despite the immense progress that has been made in the field since then, the systematic exposition of the foundations of superstring theory presented in these volumes is just as relevant today as when first published. A self-contained introduction to superstrings, Volume 1 begins with an elementary treatment of the bosonic string, before describing the incorporation of additional degrees of freedom: fermionic degrees of freedom leading to supersymmetry and internal quantum numbers leading to gauge interactions. A detailed discussion of the evaluation of tree-approximation scattering amplitudes is also given. Featuring a new preface setting the work in context in light of recent advances, this book is invaluable for graduate students and researchers in general relativity and elementary particle theory.

Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Free bosonic strings; 3. Modern covariant quantization; 4. World-sheet supersymmetry in string theory; 5. Space-time supersymmetry in string theory; 6. Nonabelian gauge symmetry; 7. Tree amplitudes; Bibliography; Index.

Originally published at the height of the first revolution in string theory, these two volumes went on to define the field. Volume 1 provides a self-contained introduction to superstrings. Featuring a new Preface, this book is invaluable for graduate students and researchers in general relativity and elementary particle theory.

Michael B. Green is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.
John H. Schwarz is the Harold Brown Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology.
Edward Witten is the Charles Simonyi Professor of Mathematical Physics at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.