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.