String Theory, Supersymmetry, Unification, and All That

Abstract

String theory and supersymmetry are theoretical ideas that go beyond the standard model of particle physics and show promise for unifying all forces. After a brief introduction to supersymmetry, we discuss the prospects for its experimental discovery in the near future. We then show how the magic of supersymmetry allows us to solve certain quantum field theories exactly, thus leading to new insights about field theory dynamics related to electric-magnetic duality. The discussion of superstring theory starts with its perturbation expansion, which exhibits new features including ``stringy geometry.'' We then turn to more recent non-perturbative developments. Using new dualities, all known superstring theories are unified, and their strong coupling behavior is clarified. A central ingredient is the existence of extended objects called branes.