Unity from duality : gravity, gauge theory and strings = L'unité de la physique fondamentale : gravité, théorie de jauge et cordes : a NATO Advanced Study Institute, Les Houches, session LXXVI, 30 July-31 August 2001

In a distilled and pedagogical fashion, the contributions to this volume of the famous summer school in Les Houches cover the recent developments in supersymmetric string theory, the gauge theory/string theory correspondence and string duality. Further chapters deal with quantum gravity and D-brane geometry. Black hole mechanics and cosmology are treated too, as well as the AdS-CFT correspondence. The book is a comprehensive introduction to the recent developments in string/M-theory and quantum gravity. It addresses graduate students in physics and astrophysics. Supergravity....Pages 1-135 Supersymmetric Gauge Theories....Pages 137-240 An Introduction to Duality Symmetries in String Theory....Pages 241-322 Les Houches Lectures on Large N Field Theories and Gravity....Pages 323-381 D-branes on the Conifold and N = 1 Gauge/Gravity Dualities....Pages 383-422 De Sitter Space....Pages 423-453 String Compactification with N = 1 Supersymmetry....Pages 455-475 Lectures on Open Strings, and Noncommutative Gauge Theories....Pages 477-495 Condensates near the Argyres-Douglas Point in SU (2) Gauge Theory with Broken N = 2 Supersymmetry....Pages 497-511 Quantum Field Theory with Extra Dimensions....Pages 513-521 Special Holonomy Spaces and M-Theory....Pages 523-545 Four Dimensional Non-Critical Strings....Pages 547-574 U -Opportunities: Why is Ten Equal to Ten?....Pages 575-586 Exact Answers to Approximate Questions — Noncommutative dipoles, Open Wilson Lines and UV-IR Duality....Pages 587-609 Open-String Models With Broken Supersymmetry....Pages 611-625 On A Field Theory of Open Strings, Tachyon Condensation and Closed Strings....Pages 627-642 Exceptional Magic....Pages 643-663 Supergravity plays a prominent role in our ideas about the unification of fundamental forces beyond the standard model, in our understanding of many central features of superstring theory, and in recent developments of the conceptual basis of quantum Held theory and quantum gravity.