Product Description

String theory made understandable. Barton Zwiebach is once again faithful to his goal of making string theory accessible to undergraduates. He presents the main concepts of string theory in a concrete and physical way to develop intuition before formalism, often through simplified and illustrative examples. Complete and thorough in its coverage, this new edition now includes AdS/CFT correspondence and introduces superstrings. It is perfectly suited to introductory courses in string theory for students with a background in mathematics and physics. New sections cover strings on orbifolds, cosmic strings, moduli stabilization, and the string theory landscape. Now with almost 300 problems and exercises, with password-protected solutions for instructors at www.cambridge.org/zwiebach.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #127824 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 696 pages

Review
‘A refreshingly different approach to string theory that requires remarkably little previous knowledge of quantum theory or relativity. This highlights fundamental features of the theory that make it so radically different from theories based on point-like particles. This book makes the subject amenable to undergraduates but it will also appeal greatly to beginning researchers who may be overwhelmed by the standard textbooks.' Professor Michael Green, University of Cambridge

‘Barton Zwiebach has written a careful and thorough introduction to string theory that is suitable for a full-year course at the advanced undergraduate level. There has been much demand for a book about string theory at this level, and this one should go a long way towards meeting that demand.’ Professor John Schwarz, California Institute of Technology

‘There is a great curiosity about string theory, not only among physics undergraduates but also among professional scientists outside of the field. This audience needs a text that goes much further than the popular accounts but without the full technical detail of a graduate text. Zwiebach’s book meets this need in a clear and accessible manner. It is well-grounded in familiar physical concepts, and proceeds through some of the most timely and exciting aspects of the subject.’ Professor Joseph Polchinski, University of California, Santa Barbara

'Zwiebach, a respected researcher in the field and a much beloved teacher at MIT, is truly faithful to his goal of making string theory accessible to advanced undergraduates – the test develops intuition before formalism, usually through simplified and illustrative examples … Zwiebach avoids the temptation of including topics that would weigh the book down and make many students rush it back to the shelf and quit the course.' Physics Today

'… well-written … takes us through the hottest topics in string theory research, requiring only a solid background in mechanics and some basic quantum mechanics. … This is not just one more text in the ever-growing canon of popular books on string theory …' Times Higher Education Supplement

'… the book provides an excellent basis for an introductory course on string theory and is well-suited for self-study by graduate students or any physicist who wants to learn the basics of string theory.' Zentralblatt MATH

'… excellent introduction by Zwiebach… aimed at advanced undergraduates who have some background in quantum mechanics and special relativity, but have not necessarily mastered quantum field theory and general relativity yet … the book … is a very thorough introduction to the subject … Equipped with this background, the reader can safely start to tackle the books by Green, Schwarz and Witten and by Polchinski.' Marcel L Vonk, Mathematical Reviews Clippings

About the Author
Barton Zwiebach is Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His central contributions have been in the area of string field theory, where he did the early work on the construction of the field theory of open strings and then developed the field theory of closed strings. He has also made important contributions to the subjects of D-branes with exceptional symmetry and tachyon condensation.

Customer Reviews

Msi student thinks this book is really good.
Am currently working on a dissertation using path integrals and wanted to look at an application within string theory. I instantly felt this book was very well written and informative. Anyone who didn't get Tensors and special relativity so well the first time will realise how clear this book is, from the start. Read someone elses copy and bought my own.

I would say that if one is at 2nd year undergraduate (UK) or above then this text not going to be too hard to follow. Of course this is not a book to teach you tensors or quantum mechanics and for that use, Schaum's outline to Tensors and F.S.Levin Intro to Quantum mechanics, but would still be easily accessible to someone with only basic knowledge of these two topics. Just as with any physics book one must be prepared to solve the problems, after all its all about the mathematics and concepts. Not a popular science book but certainly a pleasure to read. Comparitive in style to A.ZEE Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell.(Learn a bit, solve some problems, learn a bit more).

Should bring people with many different backgrounds into the field
This, along with 'String Theory Demystified', provides the perfect introduction to this complex theoretical framework, and unlike all other texts i have found, does NOT assume a background in quantum field theory and general relativity. From the start all that is assumed is basic quantum mechanics, special relativity, calculus and linear algebra, and a willingness to learn. I am a mathematician by degree, and in my opinion this book should be understandable to anyone in the second year or above of any UK university degree in maths, stats, or physics. truly a nice introduction to a very difficult but rewarding area of mathematical physics

String theory made understandable?! Who'd have thought it!
Armed only with an AS level in physics, the task of understanding the mathematics of string theory would seem an impossible task. And at first, it was - until I was recommended this book. 20 pages in I had already been introduced to reams of mathematics I had previously never heard of but - an important but - I could understand ALL of it. I'll admit that still doesn't make it an easy read - I've often re-read paragraphs to make sure I understood them - but Zwiebach explains everything in such a way that you need only have learned a bit about special relativity, basic quantum mechanics, electromagnetism and some statistics to be able to make sense of it. The first two, if you don't know much about them already, can be easily picked up by the curious layman via various popular science books (I myself only learned about them by doing so), and the latter two are pretty much covered by GCSE/A level maths and physics. Other textbooks you might find on the subject are all aimed at graduate level and as a result make no sense whatsoever, but this book is far more accessible. It even has problems in it for you to have a go at yourself...

If you're thinking this book looks good but expensive, there are things to bear in mind - you won't find it at your local library, it's far too specialised. Unless you have access to a university library, the only way to get hold of it is buy a copy. For anyone with an undergraduate level of understanding in physics, this book really shouldn't be too difficult, and if you're as geeky and interested in the subject as I am then AS or A level could be enough (provided you are prepared to have done some reading around the subject first - books I have found particularly useful were Brian Greene's 'The Elegant Universe', Stephen Hawking's 'The Universe in a Nutshell' and 'The Quark and the Jaguar' by Murray Gell-Mann. But there are many others around that would be useful too). At first I got a copy from a university library via my brother, but having found it so instantly useful and understandable I'm buying my own!