Strings, Branes and Dualities

As recent developments have shown, supersymmetric quantum field theory and string theory are intimately related, with advances in one area often shedding light on the other. The topics covered in the present volume include duality in field theory, in particular in supersymmetric field theory and supergravity, and in string theory. The Seiberg-Witten theory and its recent developments are also covered in detail. A large fraction of the volume is devoted to the current state of the art in M-theory, in particular its underlying superalgebra as well as its connection with superstring and N = 2 strings. The physics of D-branes and its essential role in the computation of the black hole entropy is also carefully covered. Finally, the last two sets of lectures are devoted to the matrix approach to non-perturbative string theory.