ICTP Lectures on Covariant Quantization of the Superstring

Nathan Berkovits

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arXiv · hep-th/0209059

ICTP Lectures on Covariant Quantization of the Superstring

Nathan Berkovits

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Abstract

These ICTP Trieste lecture notes review the pure spinor approach to quantizing the superstring with manifest D=10 super-Poincare invariance. The first section discusses covariant quantization of the superparticle and gives a new proof of equivalence with the Brink-Schwarz superparticle. The second section discusses the superstring in a flat background and shows how to construct vertex operators and compute tree amplitudes in a manifestly super-Poincare covariant manner. And the third section discusses quantization of the superstring in curved backgrounds which can include Ramond-Ramond flux.

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Nathan Berkovits. 2002-09-06. ICTP Lectures on Covariant Quantization of the Superstring. https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0209059

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