Unification of Interactions

The course consists of 14 lectures (90 minutes each).
Instructor: M. Blagojevic

1. Supersymmetry Fermi-Bose symmetry. Supersymmetric extension of the Poincare algebra. The free Wess-Zumino model. Supersymmetric electrodynamics. 2-3. Representations of supersymmetry Invariants of the super-Poincare algebra. Massless states. Massive states. Supermultiplets of fields. Tensor calculus and invariants. The interacting Wess-Zumino model. 4-5. Supergravity The Rarita-Schwinger field. Linearized theory. Complete supergravity. Algebra of local supersymmetries. Auxiliary fields. 6. Basic ideas of Kaluza-Klein theory Gravity in five dimensions. Ground state and stability. 7-8. Five-dimensional KK theory Five-dimensional gravity and effective theory. Choosing dynamical variables. Massless sector of the effective theory. Dynamics of matter and fifth dimension. Symmetries and particle spectrum. 9-10. Higher-dimensional KK theory General structure of higher-dimensional gravity. Massless sector of the effective theory. Spontaneous compactification. 11. Classical bosonic strings The relativistic point particle. Action principle for the string. Hamiltonian formalism and symmetries. 12. Oscillator formalism Open string. Closed string. Classical Virasoro algebra. 13. First quantization Quantum mechanics of the string. Quantum Virasoro algebra. Fock space of states. 14. Covariant field theory Gauge symmetries. The action for the free string field. Electrodynamics. Gravity.
Requirements include: 60 homework exercises, 2 seminars The course Gravitation 2 Literature: M. Blagojevic, Gravitation and gauge symmetries, chapters 9-11, and references therein.