An Introduction to String Theory and some of its Phenomenological Aspects

G. ALDAZABAL

Lima Perú

Simposio; Simposio Latinoamericano de Física de Altas Energías, SILAFAE 2004; 2004

In these notes we present a brief introduction to string theory. As a motivation we start by exposingsome of the many striking achievements of the Standard model of fundamental interactions but alsosome of its limitations. We introduce string theory through a discussion of perturbative closed bosonicstring. Since no knowledge of supersymmetry is assumed the dierent, consistent, superstrings arejust qualitatively motivated. D-branes and open string are then discussed and some rough idea aboutdualities and non perturbative eects is advanced. We end by illustrating the idea of brane worlds aspossible framework to embed the Standard model in a string theory context.