High energy physics has witnessed a remarkable development toward the theory of everything (TOE), whose best candidate is superstring theory. This development started with supersymmetry and has now reached the point of subjecting to experiment the problem of understanding the origin of space–time. This wide spectrum of unprecedented conceptual developments has its roots in our present knowledge of the fundamental forces of nature. This volume covers the most recent advances concerning these topics, taking into account their impact on observable phenomena. In addition, it reviews the status and prospects of all known gauge forces, including the experimental results on their validity.
