The Birth of String Theory

662 Pages·2012·4.085 MB·English

by  Andrea Cappelli, Elena Castellani, Filippo Colomo, Paolo Di Vecchia (Editors)

THE BIRTH OF STRING THEORY
Stringtheoryiscurrentlythebestcandidateforaunifiedtheoryofallforcesandallforms
ofmatterinnature.Assuch,ithasbecomeafocalpointforphysicalandphilosophicaldis-
cussions.Thisuniquebookexploresthehistoryofthetheory’searlystagesofdevelopment,
astoldbyitsmainprotagonists.
The book journeys from the first version of the theory (the so-called Dual Resonance
Model)inthelate1960s,asanattempttodescribethephysicsofstronginteractionsoutside
the framework of quantum field theory, to its reinterpretation around the mid-1970s as a
quantum theory of gravity unified with the other forces, and its successive developments
up to the superstring revolution in 1984. Providing important background information to
currentdebatesonthetheory,thisbookisessentialreadingforstudentsandresearchersin
physics,aswellasforhistoriansandphilosophersofscience.
andrea cappelli isaDirectorofResearchattheIstitutoNazionalediFisicaNucleare,
Florence. His research in theoretical physics deals with exact solutions of quantum field
theoryinlowdimensionsandtheirapplicationtocondensedmatterandstatisticalphysics.
elena castellani is an Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy, Uni-
versityofFlorence.Herresearchworkhasfocussedonsuchissuesassymmetry,physical
objects,reductionismandemergence,structuralismandrealism.
filippo colomo isaResearcherattheIstitutoNazionalediFisicaNucleare,Florence.
His research interests lie in integrable models in statistical mechanics and quantum field
theory.
paolo di vecchia is a Professor of Theoretical Physics at Nordita, Stockholm, and
at the Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen. He has worked on several aspects of theoretical
particlephysics,andhascontributedtothedevelopmentofstringtheorysinceitsbirthin
1968.

THE BIRTH OF STRING THEORY
Editedby
ANDREA CAPPELLI
INFN,Florence
ELENA CASTELLANI
DepartmentofPhilosophy,UniversityofFlorence
FILIPPO COLOMO
INFN,Florence
PAOLO DI VECCHIA
Nordita,StockholmandNielsBohrInstitute,Copenhagen
cambridge university press
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,
Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521197908
(cid:1)C CambridgeUniversityPress2012
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2012
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Thebirthofstringtheory/editedbyAndreaCappelli,INFN,Florence;ElenaCastellani,
DepartmentofPhilosophy,UniversityofFlorence;FilippoColomo,INFN,Florence;
PaoloDiVecchia,NielsBohrInstitute,CopenhagenandNordita,Stockholm.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-521-19790-8
1.Stringmodels. 2.Duality(Nuclearphysics) I.Cappelli,Andrea,editorofcompilation.
II.Castellani,Elena,1959–editorofcompilation. III.Colomo,F.,editorofcompilation.
IV.DiVecchia,P.(Paolo),editorofcompilation.
QC794.6.S85B57 2012
539.7(cid:2)258–dc23 2011052388
ISBN978-0-521-19790-8Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto
inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
Contents
Listofcontributors pagex
Photographsofcontributors xiv
Preface xxi
Abbreviationsandacronyms xxiv
PartI Overview 1
1 Introductionandsynopsis 3
2 Riseandfallofthehadronicstring 17
gabriele veneziano
3 Gravity,unification,andthesuperstring 37
john h. schwarz
4 Earlystringtheoryasachallengingcasestudyforphilosophers 63
elena castellani
EARLY STRING THEORY
PartII Theprehistory:theanalytic S-matrix 81
5 IntroductiontoPartII 83
5.1 Introduction 83
5.2 Perturbativequantumfieldtheory 84
5.3 Thehadronspectrum 88
5.4 S-matrixtheory 91
5.5 TheVenezianoamplitude 97
6 ParticletheoryintheSixties:fromcurrentalgebratotheVeneziano
amplitude 100
marco ademollo
7 ThepathtotheVenezianomodel 116
hector r. rubinstein
v
vi Contents
8 Two-componentdualityandstrings 122
peter g.o. freund
9 Noteontheprehistoryofstringtheory 129
murray gell-mann
PartIII TheDualResonanceModel 133
10 IntroductiontoPartIII 135
10.1 Introduction 135
10.2 N-pointdualscatteringamplitudes 137
10.3 Conformalsymmetry 145
10.4 Operatorformalism 147
10.5 Physicalstates 150
10.6 Thetachyon 153
11 FromtheS-matrixtostringtheory 156
paolo di vecchia
12 Reminiscenceonthebirthofstringtheory 179
joel a. shapiro
13 Personalrecollections 191
daniele amati
14 EarlystringtheoryatFermilabandRutgers 193
louis clavelli
15 Dualamplitudesinhigherdimensions:apersonalview 198
claud lovelace
16 Personalrecollectionsondualmodels 202
renato musto
17 Rememberingthe‘supergroup’collaboration 208
francesco nicodemi
18 The‘3-Reggeonvertex’ 214
stefano sciuto
PartIV Thestring 219
19 IntroductiontoPartIV 221
19.1 Introduction 221
19.2 Thevibratingstring 223
19.3 Therotatingrod 226
19.4 Therelativisticpointparticle 228
Contents vii
19.5 Thestringaction 230
19.6 Thequantumtheoryofthestring 231
20 Fromdualmodelstorelativisticstrings 236
peter goddard
21 Thefirststringtheory:personalrecollections 262
leonard susskind
22 ThestringpictureoftheVenezianomodel 266
holger b. nielsen
23 FromtheS-matrixtostringtheory 275
yoichiro nambu
24 Theanaloguemodelforstringamplitudes 283
david b. fairlie
25 Factorizationindualmodelsandfunctionalintegrationinstringtheory 294
stanley mandelstam
26 Thehadronicoriginsofstringtheory 312
richard c. brower
TOWARDS MODERN STRING THEORY
PartV Beyondthebosonicstring 329
27 IntroductiontoPartV 331
27.1 Introduction 331
27.2 Chan–Patonfactors 333
27.3 TheLovelace–Shapiroamplitude 334
27.4 TheRamondmodel 335
27.5 TheNeveu–Schwarzmodel 338
27.6 TheRamond–Neveu–Schwarzmodel 339
27.7 World-sheetsupersymmetry 341
27.8 AffineLiealgebras 344
28 Fromdualfermiontosuperstring 346
david i. olive
29 Dualmodelwithfermions:memoirsofanearlystringtheorist 361
pierre ramond
30 Personalrecollections 373
andre´ neveu
31 Aspectsoffermionicdualmodels 378
edward corrigan
viii Contents
32 Thedualquarkmodels 393
korkut bardakci and martin b. halpern
33 Rememberingthedawnofrelativisticstrings 407
jean-loup gervais
34 EarlystringtheoryinCambridge:personalrecollections 414
claus montonen
PartVI Thesuperstring 419
35 IntroductiontoPartVI 421
35.1 Introduction 421
35.2 Thefieldtheorylimit 423
35.3 Unificationofallinteractions 427
35.4 TheQCDstring 431
35.5 Adetouronspinors 433
35.6 Spacetimesupersymmetry 434
35.7 TheGSOprojection 437
35.8 TheKaluza–Kleinreductionandsupersymmetrybreaking 439
35.9 Thelocalsupersymmetricactionforthesuperstring 442
35.10 Supergravity 444
36 Supersymmetryinstringtheory 447
ferdinando gliozzi
37 Gravityfromstrings:personalreminiscencesofearlydevelopments 459
tamiaki yoneya
38 FromtheNambu–Gotototheσ-modelaction 474
lars brink
39 Locallysupersymmetricactionforthesuperstring 484
paolo di vecchia
40 Personalrecollections 490
euge`ne cremmer
41 ThescientificcontributionsofJoe¨lScherk 496
john h. schwarz
PartVII Preparingthestringrenaissance 509
42 IntroductiontoPartVII 511
42.1 Introduction 511
42.2 Supergravityunificationofallinteractions 512
42.3 Anovellight-coneformalism 514
42.4 Moderncovariantquantization 518
Contents ix
42.5 Anomalycancellation 521
42.6 Anewerastartsor,maybebetter,continues 525
43 Fromstringstosuperstrings:apersonalperspective 527
michael b. green
44 Quarks,stringsandbeyond 544
alexander m. polyakov
45 Theriseofsuperstringtheory 552
andrea cappelli and filippo colomo
AppendixA TheoreticaltoolsoftheSixties 569
AppendixB TheVenezianoamplitude 579
AppendixC FromthestringactiontotheDualResonanceModel 586
AppendixD World-sheetandtarget-spacesupersymmetry 604
AppendixE Thefieldtheorylimit 620
Index 626
Contributors
MarcoAdemollo
DipartimentodiFisica,Universita` diFirenze,andINFN,SezionediFirenze,
ViaG.Sansone1,50019SestoFiorentino(FI),Italy
DanieleAmati
SISSA,Trieste,andINFN,SezionediTrieste,viaBonomea265,34136Trieste,Italy
KorkutBardakci
DepartmentofPhysics,UniversityofCalifornia,andTheoreticalPhysicsGroup,
LawrenceBerkeleyNationalLaboratory,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley,CA94720,
USA
LarsBrink
DepartmentofFundamentalPhysics,ChalmersUniversityofTechnology,
S-41296Go¨teborg,Sweden
RichardC.Brower
PhysicsDepartment,BostonUniversity,590CommonwealthAvenue,Boston,MA02215,
USA
AndreaCappelli
INFN,SezionediFirenze,ViaG.Sansone1,50019SestoFiorentino(FI),Italy
ElenaCastellani
DipartimentodiFilosofia,Universita` diFirenze,ViaBolognese52,50139Firenze,Italy
LouisClavelli
DepartmentofPhysicsandAstronomy,UniversityofAlabama,Tuscaloosa,AL
35487-0324,USA
x