Abstract
D-branes are higher-dimensional membranes in string theory. The simple membranes take on special importance in physics. The D-branes are not only widely applied for various subjects of physics related to string theory, such as elementary particle physics, cosmology and mathematics, but also might be fundamental constituent elements of the whole universe. Looking at recent results of researches of the D-branes, we might be able to say “All matters and interactions which our bodies consist of are made up of D-branes,” or we might be able to say “we live in D-branes.” These two expressions apparently look quite different from each other, but they are just different ways of viewing the same D-branes. And these two possibilities about D-branes are parts of the subjects which a large number of elementary particle physicists concentrate on currently. The main purpose of this book is to tell attractive aspects of this D-brane to readers intelligibly, and to enjoy together excitement in the leading-edge study of the candidacy of ultimate theory, namely, string theory which unites whole elementary particles and forces.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
To be precise, the Standard Model has some mathematical problems, such as technical difficulties in practical calculations by using the Standard Model, and no proof for quark confinement which will be described later in Chap. 6.4. However, we can say there are no mathematical problem in the sense that the starting point is given in the theory. As described below, it remains a physical problem why we choose the starting point like that.
- 2.
This fact was found by T. Yoneya and by J. Scherk and J. Schwarz in 1974.
- 3.
In particle theories, a procedure called “renormalization” exists which can eliminate these divergences. However, in the theory of gravity, the standard renormalization is impossible.
- 4.
This is a heuristic argument. In reality, if we consider the case of the central hole in Fig. 1.4 left shrinking, or the case of decomposing the string into infinite number of particles as mentioned earlier, possible infinities may show up. However, string theory has an open-closed duality which we will see later, and due to such mechanism which is intrinsic to string worldsheets, the calculation results of these scattering process become finite.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hashimoto, K. (2012). From Elementary Particles to D-Branes and Strings. In: D-Brane. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23574-0_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23574-0_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-23573-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-23574-0
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)