November 26 - 28, 2004

 

W. Lerche (CERN):

 

Quantum geometry of D-branes and
nonperturbative field theory

 


Abstract:

I review modern methods of topological string theory which allow to compute certain quantities in supersymmetric theories exactly, at the non-perturbative level. These include gauge couplings and effective superpotentials, which govern the vacuum structure of the theory. The underlying physical structure is the geometry of D-branes, which generalizes the usual notions of point-particle geometry and differs drastically from it at small distances, or when the coupling is strong.


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