A funny thing about string theory: the classical underpinnings are very straightforward. The challenge comes in quantizing the system The old fashioned Covariant (canonical) quantization OCQ doesn’t really work because of subtleties introduced by constraints. If forces us to … 1/4 - ThreadSky

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agelessstudent.bsky.social • 91 days ago

A funny thing about string theory: the classical underpinnings are very straightforward. The challenge comes in quantizing the system The old fashioned Covariant (canonical) quantization OCQ doesn’t really work because of subtleties introduced by constraints. If forces us to … 1/4

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agelessstudent.bsky.social•91 days ago

… to insert constraints by hand in OCQ which is not very satisfying. Path integral methods (esp. BRST) handle the constraints better. BRST is based on a special symmetry that survives after gauge constraint is applied and we get physical states automatically. Much better…2/4

agelessstudent.bsky.social•91 days ago

But BRST gives all kinds of new artifacts like ghost fields, and we still have to deal with intriguing features like T duality, d-branes and those perplexing extra dimensions. And other symmetries I have not touched. This is perhaps what fascinates the theorist…3/4

agelessstudent.bsky.social•91 days ago

… and for good reason. Fascinating stuff!

These are just completely un-authoritative musings from reading the textbooks. I’d love to have correction from anybody.

I confess this is a bit of a test see if Bluesky has folks who like to discuss physics and can tolerate enthusiastic students… 4/4

williamphamilton.bsky.social•50 days ago

Maybe you need a simpler test.

agelessstudent.bsky.social•50 days ago

Actually this test was extremely informative.

williamphamilton.bsky.social•50 days ago

Better yet subscribe to the science feed https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jfhpnnst6flqway4eaeqzj2a/feed/for-science, pose some questions and observations and see where it goes. Many of them may be your peers.

agelessstudent.bsky.social•50 days ago

I’m just posting “I wish they had mentioned this 30 years ago when I took the class” kind of things. It does not seem to be appropriate content for the science feed where they like to showcase their current research.

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