Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I From Particles to Strings
- Part II TheWorld-Sheet Perspective
- Part III The Space-Time Perspective
- 7 Covariant Quantisation I
- 8 Intermezzo – Representations of the Poincaré Group
- 9 Covariant Quantisation II
- 10 Light-Cone Quantisation
- 11 Partition Functions II
- Part IV Outlook
- Appendix A Notation and Conventions
- Appendix B Units, Constants, and Scales
- Appendix C Fourier Series and Fourier Integrals
- Appendix D Modular Forms and Special Functions
- Appendix E Young Tableaux
- Appendix F Gaussian Integrals and Integral Exponential Function
- Appendix G Lie Algebras, Lie Groups, and Symmetric Spaces
- References
- Index
10 - Light-Cone Quantisation
from Part III - The Space-Time Perspective
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 March 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I From Particles to Strings
- Part II TheWorld-Sheet Perspective
- Part III The Space-Time Perspective
- 7 Covariant Quantisation I
- 8 Intermezzo – Representations of the Poincaré Group
- 9 Covariant Quantisation II
- 10 Light-Cone Quantisation
- 11 Partition Functions II
- Part IV Outlook
- Appendix A Notation and Conventions
- Appendix B Units, Constants, and Scales
- Appendix C Fourier Series and Fourier Integrals
- Appendix D Modular Forms and Special Functions
- Appendix E Young Tableaux
- Appendix F Gaussian Integrals and Integral Exponential Function
- Appendix G Lie Algebras, Lie Groups, and Symmetric Spaces
- References
- Index
Summary
We introduce light-cone quantisation, first for particles, then for strings, and show how this leads one to standard representatives for physical states. The shift in the ground state energy of the bosonic string is derived using both zeta-function regularisation and Lorentz covariance. The derivation of the critical dimension D=26 of the bosonic string using Lorentz covariance is provided through a guided exercise.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A Short Introduction to String Theory , pp. 117 - 124Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022