String-Organized Field Theory

We study the field theory limit of multi-loop (super)string amplitudes, with the aim of clarifying their relationship to Feynman diagrams describing the dynamics of the massless states. We propose an explicit map between string moduli around degeneration points and Schwinger proper-times characterizing individual Feynman diagram topologies. This makes it possible to identify the contribution of each light string state within the full string amplitude and to extract the field ...

Feynman diagram expressions in ordinary field theories can be written in a string-like manner. The methods and the advantages for doing so are briefly discussed.

This contribution, aimed mostly at experimental particle physicists, reviews some of the main ideas and results of String Theory in a non-technical language. It originates from the talks presented by the authors at the Electro-Weak session of the 2002 Moriond Meeting, here merged in an attempt to provide a more complete and concise view of the subject.

This elementary introduction to string field theory highlights the features and the limitations of this approach to quantum gravity as it is currently understood. String field theory is a formulation of string theory as a field theory in space-time with an infinite number of massive fields. Although existing constructions of string field theory require expanding around a fixed choice of space-time background, the theory is in principle background-independent, in the sense tha...

We report on recent advances in the understanding of non-perturbative phenomena in the quantum theory of fields and strings.

We show that the series expansion of quantum field theory in the Feynman diagrams can be explicitly mapped on the partition function of the simplicial string theory -- the theory describing embeddings of the two--dimensional simplicial complexes into the space--time of the field theory. The summation over two--dimensional geometries in this theory is obtained from the summation over the Feynman diagrams and the integration over the Schwinger parameters of the propagators. We ...

This essay presents a critical evaluation of the concepts of string theory and its impact on particle physics. The point of departure is a historical review of four decades of ST within the broader context of six decades of failed attempts at an autonomous S-matrix approach to particle theory. The central message, contained in sections 5 and 6, is that string theory is not what its name suggests, namely a theory of of objects in spacetime whose localization is string- instead...

Recent years have seen noteworthy progress in the mathematical formulation of quantum field theory and perturbative string theory. We give a brief survey of these developments. It serves as an introduction to the more detailed collection "Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Field Theory and Perturbative String Theory".

This is an invited contribution to the Special Issue of "Foundations of Physics" titled "Forty Years Of String Theory: Reflecting On the Foundations". I have been asked to assess string theory as an outsider, and to compare it with the theory, methods, and expectations in my own field.

String Field Theory is a formulation of String Theory as a Quantum Field Theory in target space. It allows to tame the infrared divergences of String Theory and to approach its non-perturbative structure and background independence. This article gives a concise overview on the subject and of some of the main recent progress. Note: Review article for Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Physics