String Theory
Ali Yassine Riad Rifai
Department of Computer Science
American University of Beirut
Email: amy17@mail.aub.edu
Abstract—This paper will introduce the String Theory frame-
work as well as the different subtheories that arose from it,
without forgetting the mathematical approach to this theory.
Index Terms—String theory, physics, gravity, atoms, quantum
mechanics
I. I NTRODUCTION
The beauty of string theory is the metaphor kind of really
comes very close to the reality. The strings of string theory
are vibrating the particles, vibrating the forces of nature into
existence, those vibrations are sort of like musical notes. So,
string theory, if it’s correct, would be playing out the score
of the universe. - Brian Greene.
Science is filled with questions which we do not have
answers to yet. Some questions shall remain unanswered
for our minds are not limitless. It took humanity thousands
of years to formulate an idea about the atom, another two
thousand to formulate a real theory followed by years of
research and engineering to prove that the smallest thing is not
actually the smallest. An atom is made of protons, neutrons
and electrons, but the curiosity that humans developed
throughout the years pushed them to ask how deep we can
go: what these particles are made off? What is the smallest
element that makes everything? Where does it end?
Theoretical physics made its debut with Einsteins work, the
general theory of relativity which explains the force of gravity
and the space-time structure. Quantum mechanics followed,
which is a completely different formulation to describe
physical phenomena using the known probability principles.
By the late 1970s, these two frameworks had proven to be
sufficient to explain most of the observed features of the
universe, from elementary particles to atoms to the evolution
of stars and the universe as a whole.
But many problems remain to be solved such as the quantum
gravity problem. A quantum theory of gravity is needed in
order to reconcile general relativity with the principles of
quantum mechanics, but difficulties arise when one attempts
to apply the usual prescriptions of quantum theory to the
force of gravity. In addition to the problem of developing a
consistent theory of quantum gravity, there are many other
fundamental problems in the physics of atomic nuclei, black
holes, and the early universe. String theory is an attempt
to quantize gravity and unite it with the other fundamental
Departnemt of Computer Science
American University of Beirut
Email: rsr11@mail.aub.edu
forces of nature. It combines many interesting topics of
quantum field theory in two and higher dimensions.
II. S TRING T HEORY - T HEORY OF E VERYTHING
String Theory is currently the best candidate for a theory
which unifies gravity with the other fundamental forces: the
strong nuclear, the weak nuclear and the electromagnetic
forces. It is a proposed ”Theory of Everything”.
String theory suggests that the elementary particles are
one-dimensional strings as opposed to zero-dimensional point
particles. All known elementary particles are made up of
one building block: the string. The resonance of each string
determines the properties (mass, charge, spin, etc.) of the
particle, thus different resonant frequencies correspond to
different particles. Strings are on the order of the Planck
length (10-35 m), or 1020 times smaller than the diameter of
an atomic nucleus.
III. H ISTORY
String theory was discovered in the 1960’s by theorists
working to understand the plethora of hadronic and mesonic
particles which had been found around that time [Ref. Table 1].
In 1970, three physicists, Yoichiro Nambu, Holger Nielsen and
Leonard Susskin came up with the idea to model elementary
particles as strings. But inconsistencies in the theory were
found when experiments were made, and the success of
the point-particle quantum field theory of quantum chromo-
dynamics resulted in the first dismissal of string theory.
In 1971, supersymmetry is discovered in both the Standard
Model and string theory, and three years later, in 1974, John
Schwarz and Joel Scherk discovered that string theory had
failed because its scope was constrained. String theory not
only described quantum effects, but also the graviton, thus the
idea developed that string theory might be the key to the grand
unified theory.
In 1976, Supersymmetry was added to gravity, resulting in
Supergravity and Superstrings are discovered four years later.
In 1984, John Schwarz and Michael Green published their
12 years of work in a paper on string theory, resolving
many conflicts of quantum mechanics. The First String Theory
Revolution began, resulting in thousands of research papers
being published on the topic between 1984 and 1986.
 IV. T ODAY
Today there are a total of five superstring theories:
• Type I: Supersymmetry between forces and matter, open
and closed strings
• Type IIA: Supersymmetry between forces and matter,
closed strings, open strings bound to D-branes, massless
fermions spin both ways (achiral).
• Type IIB: Supersymmetry between forces and matter,
closed strings, open strings bound to D-branes; massless
fermions only spin one way (chiral).
• Type HO: Supersymmetry between forces and matter,
closed strings, heterotic (right moving and left moving
strings differ).
• Type HE: Supersymmetry between forces and matter,
closed strings, heterotic (right moving and left moving
strings differ).
The five main theories suggest an 11-dimensional universe,
composed of 3 space dimensions, 1 time dimension and 6 (or
7) spatially coiled dimensions.
V. T HE D ETAILS
String theory is extremely difficult to understand. The
general public will not be able to gasp its power without a
heavy technical background in theoretical physics. Even with
this background, String theory is made with huge assumptions
concerning space and motion.
Consider the wave equation for a string with a tension T
and a mass per unit length m. If the string is described in
coordinates as in the drawing below, where x is the distance
along the string and y is the height of the string, as the
string oscillates in time t, then the equation of motion is
the one-dimensional wave equation where Vw is the wave
velocity along the string.
When solving the equations of motion, ”boundary conditions”
of the string should be known. Suppose that the string is fixed
at each end and has an unstretched length L. The general
solution to this equation can be written as a sum of ”normal
modes”, here labeled by the integer n, such that:
The condition for a normal mode is that the wavelength be
some integral fraction of twice the string length, or:
The frequency of the normal mode is then:
According to Einstein’s theory, a relativistic equation has to
use coordinates that have the proper Lorentz transformation
properties. A problem arises, because a string oscillates
in space and time, and as it oscillates, it sweeps out a
two-dimensional surface in space-time that we call a world
sheet (compared with the world line of a particle).
In the nonrelativistic string, there was a clear difference
between the space coordinate along the string, and the
time coordinate. But in a relativistic string theory, we wind
up having to consider the world sheet of the string as a
two-dimensional space-time of its own, where the division
between space and time depends upon the observer.
The classical equation can be written as:
where s and t are coordinates on the string world sheet
representing space and time along the string, and the
parameter c2 is the ratio of the string tension to the string
mass per unit length.
These equations of motion can be derived from Euler-
Lagrange equations from an action based on the string world
sheet
The general solution to the relativistic string equations of
motion looks very similar to the classical nonrelativistic case
above. The transverse space coordinates can be expanded in
normal modes as:
 are, can be kind of tricky. The key string theory features
include:
The string solution above is unlike a guitar string in that it
isn’t tied down at either end and so travels freely through
space-time as it oscillates. The string above is an open string,
with ends that are floppy.
For a closed string, the boundary conditions are periodic,
and the resulting oscillating solution looks like two open
string oscillations moving in the opposite direction around
the string. These two types of closed string modes are called
right-movers and left-movers, and this difference will be
important later in the supersymmetric heterotic string theory.
This is classical string. When we add quantum mechanics
by making the string momentum and position obey quantum
commutation relations, the oscillator mode coefficients have
the commutation relations
The quantized string oscillator modes wind up giving
representations of the Poincar group, through which quantum
states of mass and spin are classified in a relativistic quantum
field theory.
So, this is where the elementary particle arise in string theory.
Particles in a string theory are like the harmonic notes played
• All objects in our universe are composed of vibrating
filaments (strings) and membranes (branes) of energy.
• String theory attempts to reconcile general relativity
(gravity) with quantum physics.
• String theory offers us intriguing pictures of space-time
and matter
• It is endowed with numerous stable and meta-stable vacua
• It offers candidates of new physics to discover such as
SUSY and extra-dimensions
• Experimental discoveries will be crucial to its further
developments
• A new connection (called supersymmetry) exists between
two fundamentally different types of particles, bosons and
fermions.
• Several extra (usually unobservable) dimensions to the
universe must exist.
• Other principles or features, waiting to be discovered.
VII. S UMMARY

on a string with a fixed tension

The parameter a’ is called the string parameter and the square
root of this number represents the approximate distance scale
at which string effects should become observable.
In the generic quantum string theory, there are quantum states
with negative norm, also known as ghosts. This happens
because of the minus sign in the spacetime metric, which
implies that:

So there ends up being extra unphysical states in the string

spectrum.
VIII. R ESOURCES
In 26 spacetime dimensions, these extra unphysical states
• Becker, Becker, and Schwarz 2007, p. 1
wind up disappearing from the spectrum. Therefore. bosonic
• Haber, Howie. ”SUPERSYMMETRY, PART I (THE-
string quantum mechanics is only consistent if the dimension
ORY)” (PDF). Reviews, Tables and Plots. Particle Data
of spacetime is 26.
Group (PDG). Retrieved 27 November 2017
By looking at the quantum mechanics of the relativistic string
• http://strings.ph.qmul.ac.uk/engagement/brief-history-
normal modes, one can deduce that the quantum modes of
string-theory
the string look just like the particles we see in spacetime,
• http://superstringtheory.com/basics/basic4a.html
with mass that depends on the spin according to the formula:

strings can be open, with ends that travel at the speed of

light, or closed, with their ends joined in a ring.

VI. C ONCLUSION

String theory is a work in progress, so trying to pin down

exactly what the science is, or what its fundamental elements