12 - String amplitudes

Summary

The starting point for string theory is the idea that the elementary constituents of the theory, which in quantum field theory are assumed to be point-like, are in fact one-dimensional objects, namely strings. As time evolves, a string sweeps out a Riemann surface whose topology governs the interactions that result from joining and splitting strings. The Feynman–Polyakov prescription for quantum mechanical string amplitudes amounts to summing over all topologies of the Riemann surface, for each topology integrating over the moduli of the Riemann surface, and for each value of the moduli solving a conformal field theory. Modular invariance plays a key role in the reduction of the integral over moduli to an integral over a single copy of moduli space and, in particular, is responsible for rendering string amplitudes well behaved at short distances. In this chapter, we present a highly condensed introduction to key ingredients of string theory and string amplitudes, relegating the important aspects of toroidal compactification and T-duality to Chapter 13 and a discussion of S-duality in Type IIB string theory to Chapter 14.