Supersymmetry and String Theory: Beyond the Standard Model

The past decade has witnessed dramatic developments in the field of theoretical physics. This book is a comprehensive introduction to these recent developments. It contains a review of the Standard Model, covering non-perturbative topics, and a discussion of grand unified theories and magnetic monopoles. It introduces the basics of supersymmetry and its phenomenology, and includes dynamics, dynamical supersymmetry breaking, and electric-magnetic duality. The book then covers general relativity and the big bang theory, and the basic issues in inflationary cosmologies before discussing the spectra of known string theories and the features of their interactions. The book also includes brief introductions to technicolor, large extra dimensions, and the Randall-Sundrum theory of warped spaces. This will be of great interest to graduates and researchers in the fields of particle theory, string theory, astrophysics and cosmology. The book contains several problems, and password protected solutions will be available to lecturers at www.cambridge.org/9780521858410.

Table of Contents:
Part I. Effective Field Theory: The Standard Model, Supersymmetry, Unification: 1. Before the Standard Model; 2. The Standard Model; 3. Phenomenology of the Standard Model; 4. The Standard Model as an effective field theory; 5. Anomalies. instantons and the Strong CP Problem; 6. Grand unification; 7. Magnetic monopoles and solitons; 8. Technicolor: a first attempt to explain hierarchies; Part II. Supersymmetry: 9. Supersymmetry; 10. A first look at supersymmetry breaking; 11. The minimal supersymmetry Standard Model; 12. Supersymmetric grand unification; 13. Supersymmetric dynamics; 14. Dynamical supersymmetry breaking; 15. Theories with more than four conserved supercharges; 16. More supersymmetric dynamics; 17. An introduction to general relativity; 18. Cosmology; 19. Astroparticle physics and inflation; Part III. String Theory: 20. Introduction; 21. The Bosonic string; 22. The superstring; 23. The heterotic string; 24. Effective actions on ten dimensions; 25. Compactification of string theory; 26. Compactification of strings; 27. Dynamics of strong theory at weak coupling; 28. Beyond weak coupling: non-perturbative string theory; 29. Large and warped extra dimensions; 30. Coda: where are we headed?; Part IV. The Appendices: Appendix A. Two component spinors; Appendix B. Goldstone's theorem and the pi mesons; Appendix C. Some practice with the path integral in field theory; Appendix D. The beta-function in supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory; Index.

About the Author :
Michael Dine is Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is an A. P. Sloan Foundation Fellow and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Prior to this Professor Dine was a Research Associate at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, a long-term member of the Institute for Advanced Study, and Henry Semat Professor at the City College of the City University of New York.

Review :
'An excellent and timely introduction to a wide range of topics concerning physics beyond the standard model, by one of the most dynamic researchers in the field. Dine has a gift for explaining difficult concepts in a transparent way. The book has wonderful insights to offer beginning graduate students and experienced researchers alike.' Nima Arkani-Hamed, Harvard University 'How many times did you need to find the answer to a basic question about the formalism and especially the phenomenology of general relativity, the Standard Model, its supersymmetric and grand unified extensions, and other serious models of new physics, as well as the most important experimental constraints and the realization of the key models within string theory? Dine's book will solve most of these problems for you and give you much more, namely the state-of-the-art picture of reality as seen by a leading superstring phenomenologist.' Lubos Motl, Harvard University 'This book gives a broad overview of most of the current issues in theoretical high energy physics. It introduces and discusses a wide range of topics from a pragmatic point of view. Although some of these topics are addressed in other books, this one gives a uniform and self-contained exposition of all of them. The book can be used as an excellent text in various advanced graduate courses. It is also an extremely useful reference book for researchers in the field, both for graduate students and established senior faculty. Dine's deep insights and broad perspective make this book an essential text. I am sure it will become a classic. Many physicists expect that with the advent of the LHC a revival of model building will take place. This book is the best tool kit a modern model builder will need.' Nathan Seiberg, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton 'Particle physics is about to enter a new era with the start up of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. This book provides a broad and well-founded introduction to the main theoretical concepts ... The comprehensive list of state-of-the-art topics presented makes Dine's book an almost unique text. The parts on supersymmetry and string theory especially contain a wealth of material, often showing deep physical insight. ... a valuable resource for anybody who learns and teaches particle physics. For the active researcher it also provides the tools necessary to develop new models in an exciting area of physics.' The Observatory