From Boundaries To Conditions Over Superspace

N=1 and 2 superconformal boundary conditions are shown to be the consequence of a boundary on the worldsheet superspace with positive codimension in the anticommuting subspace. In addition to the well-known boundary conditions, I also find two new infinite series of N=2 boundary states. Their free field realizations are given. A self-contained development of 2d superspace leads to new perspectives on this subject.Comment: 25 page

A systematic study of the initial state in heavy ion collisions based on the quark participant assumption

We investigate the initial state geometric quantities of heavy ion collisions based on the quark participant assumption in the Glauber multiple scattering approach. A systematic comparison to the nucleon participant assumption has been presented and confronted with the charged multiplicity measurements in various collision systems. It is found that the quark participant based assumption can be important to understand the data in multiplicity production and the initial spatial eccentricity in small systems.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figure

TASI Lectures on Perturbative String Theories

These lecture notes are based on a course on string theories given by Hirosi Ooguri in the first week of TASI 96 Summer School at Boulder, Colorado. It is an introductory course designed to provide students with minimum knowledge before they attend more advanced courses on non-perturbative aspects of string theories in the School. The course consists of five lectures: 1. Bosonic String, 2. Toroidal Compactifications, 3. Superstrings, 4. Heterotic Strings, and 5. Orbifold Compactifications.Comment: 80 pages, Latex, final version to appear in the Proceedings of TASI9

A Note On Space Noncommutativity

We consider a two-point spatial lattice approximation to an open string moving in a flat background with B field. It gives a constrained dipole system under the influence of a vector potential. Solving and quantizing this system recover all the essential features of a noncommutative space. In particular, open string interactions induce a canonical product structure on the Hilbert space of the dipole system. It coincides with the usual star product, even though the position operators can be thought of as mutually commuting. Modification of gauge transformations in this noncommutative space also naturally emerges.Comment: 10 pages, no figure, LaTeX 2.09. Some typographical correction

D-Branes on Calabi-Yau Spaces and Their Mirrors

We study the boundary states of D-branes wrapped around supersymmetric cycles in a general Calabi-Yau manifold. In particular, we show how the geometric data on the cycles are encoded in the boundary states. As an application, we analyze how the mirror symmetry transforms D-branes, and we verify that it is consistent with the conjectured periodicity and the monodromy of the Ramond-Ramond field configuration on a Calabi-Yau manifold. This also enables us to study open string worldsheet instanton corrections and relate them to closed string instanton counting. The cases when the mirror symmetry is realized as T-duality are also discussed.Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX. The description of the large complex structure limit is corrected. The mirror transformation between D-branes is further clarifie