For someone who has neither a physics nor math background, what sequence of books I would have to read to actually understand string theory?
Dan Piponi (THEORETICAL PHYSISIST)
http://blog.sigfpe.com
The specific choice of books doesn't really matter IMO and lecture notes may serve better than a book in many cases.
A linear algebra course.
An advanced calculus course including multivariate calculus and differential equations.
Optional: A (discrete) group theory course.
Optional: A (discrete) group representation theory course.
A Lie groups and Lie algebra course (though a good quantum mechanics course may give you what you need).
A partial differential equation course (though a good quantum mechanics course may give you what you need).
A differential geometry course (though a good general relativity course may give you what you need).
An advanced classical mechanics course (preferably including some Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics).
A complex analysis course.
A course including something about the Fourier transform.
A special relativity course.
A classical electrodynamics course.
A quantum mechanics course.
A quantum field theory course (including some gauge theory).
A general relativity course.
Optional: algebraic topology but that'll need an abstract algebra course covering rings and modules.
A supersymmetry course.
And that might get you to the point where you could learn the basics of string theory.Update: I want to mention a couple of extra things.
First the bad news: some of those courses may actually be a few semesters' worth of work. For example quantum field theory might actually be taught as Quantum Field Theory followed by Advanced Quantum Field Theory followed by something a bit more oriented to particle physics like Gauge Theory. A single book would cover the whole thing though: Quantum Field Theory: Lewis H. Ryder: 9780521478144: Amazon.com: Books
The good news: you don't have to finish all of these courses. It's good to know the machinery of General Relativity, say, but you don't need to work through all of the standard spacetimes. It's probably good to know the first half of a basic group theory course but you can probably skip any part of such a course that involves prime numbers, say.
A linear algebra course.
An advanced calculus course including multivariate calculus and differential equations.
Optional: A (discrete) group theory course.
Optional: A (discrete) group representation theory course.
A Lie groups and Lie algebra course (though a good quantum mechanics course may give you what you need).
A partial differential equation course (though a good quantum mechanics course may give you what you need).
A differential geometry course (though a good general relativity course may give you what you need).
An advanced classical mechanics course (preferably including some Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics).
A complex analysis course.
A course including something about the Fourier transform.
A special relativity course.
A classical electrodynamics course.
A quantum mechanics course.
A quantum field theory course (including some gauge theory).
A general relativity course.
Optional: algebraic topology but that'll need an abstract algebra course covering rings and modules.
A supersymmetry course.
And that might get you to the point where you could learn the basics of string theory.Update: I want to mention a couple of extra things.
First the bad news: some of those courses may actually be a few semesters' worth of work. For example quantum field theory might actually be taught as Quantum Field Theory followed by Advanced Quantum Field Theory followed by something a bit more oriented to particle physics like Gauge Theory. A single book would cover the whole thing though: Quantum Field Theory: Lewis H. Ryder: 9780521478144: Amazon.com: Books
The good news: you don't have to finish all of these courses. It's good to know the machinery of General Relativity, say, but you don't need to work through all of the standard spacetimes. It's probably good to know the first half of a basic group theory course but you can probably skip any part of such a course that involves prime numbers, say.
ANAΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΣΗ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ QUORA 14/6/2017
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