弦論和M理論導論:英文

String theory is one of the most exciting and challenging areas of moderntheoretical physics. It was developed in the late 1960s for the purpose of de- scribing the strong nuclear force.

Problems were encountered that prevented this program from attaining complete success. In particular, it was realized that the spectrum of a fundamental string contains an undesired massless spimtwo particle.

Quantum chromodynamics eventually proved to be the correct theory for describing the strong force and the properties of hadrons.

New doors opened for string theory when in 1974 it was proposed to identify the massless spin-two particle in the string﹀s spectrum with the graviton, the quantum of gravitation.

String theory became then the most promising can didate for a quantum theory of gravity unified with the other forces and has developed into one of the most fascinating theories of high-energy physics.