The Mathematics of M-Theory: Robbert Dijkgraaf
The Mathematics of M-Theory: Robbert Dijkgraaf
The Mathematics of M-Theory: Robbert Dijkgraaf
Robbert Dijkgraaf
1. Introduction
Over the years there have been many fruitful interactions between string theory [14]
and various fields of mathematics. Subjects like algebraic geometry and represen-
tation theory have been stimulated by new concepts such as mirror symmetry [3],
quantum cohomology [12] and conformal field theory [4]. But most of these devel-
opments have been based on the perturbative formulation of string theory, either
in the Lagrangian formalism in terms of maps of Riemann surfaces into mani-
folds or the quantization of loop spaces. This perturbative approach is however
only an approximate description that appears for small values of the quantization
parameter.
Recently there has been much progress in understanding a more fundamental
description of the theory that has become known as M-theory. M-theory seems to
be the most complex and richest mathematical object so far in physics. It seems
to unify three great ideas of twentieth century theoretical physics:
(1) General relativity - the idea that gravity can be described by the Rie-
mannian geometry of space-time.
(2) Gauge theory - the description of forces between elementary particles us-
ing connections on vector bundles. In mathematics this involves K-theory
and index theorems.
(3) Strings, or more generally extended objects, as a natural generalization of
point particles. Mathematically this means that we study spaces primarily
through their (quantized) loop spaces.
At present it seems that these three independent ideas are closely related,
and perhaps essentially equivalent. To some extent physics is trying to build a
dictionary between geometry, gauge theory and strings.
C. Casacuberta et al. (eds.), European Congress of Mathematics
© Springer Basel AG 2001
2 R. Dijkgraaf
It must be said that in all developments there have been two further ingredi-
ents that are absolutely crucial. The first is quantum mechanics - the description of
physical reality in terms of operator algebras acting on Hilbert spaces. In most at-
tempts to understand string theory, quantum mechanics has been the foundation,
and there is little indication that this is going to change.
The second ingredient is supersymmetry - the unification of matter and
forces. In mathematical terms supersymmetry is closely related to de Rham com-
plexes and algebraic topology. In some way many of the miraculous interconnec-
tions in string theory only work if supersymmetry is present. Since we are essen-
tially working with a complex, it should not come as a surprise to mathematicians
that there are various 'topological' indices that are stable under perturbation and
can be computed exactly in an appropriate limit. From a physical perspective
supersymmetry is perhaps the most robust prediction of string theory.