Harmonics in String Theory

[ParanoiA]

In contemplating what little (and I do mean little) I've learned so far about string theory, I was wondering about the harmonics of the vibrating strings. Do we know what these harmonics do? Do we even know of any specific vibration patterns that create mass? light? anything?

 

I'm working on a science fiction piece and I'm curious about using harmonics, such as 1st, 3rd, 5th and etc.

[ajb]

Upon quantisation, these modes correspond to states. I'll list some of the lower states for you.

 

For the open bosonic string we have

 

[math]N=0[/math] tachyonic "unstable" vacuum.

[math]N=1[/math] massless spin one particle, (Maxwell or Yang-Mills Field).

[math]N \geq 2 [/math] infinite tower of massive particles.

 

The closed bosonic string

 

[math]N=0[/math] tachyonic "unstable" vacuum.

[math]N=2 [/math] massless spin 2 graviton, spin 2 antisymmetric tensor field "Neveu- Schwartz B-field" and the spin 0 dilaton.

 

For more details I suggest

Polchinski "String Theory" two volumes

Sazbo "String Theory and D-brane Dynamics" (short but clear book)

Zwiebach "A First Course in String Theory"

 

An older classical reference is

Green, Witten and Schwartz "Superstring Theory" It is before the development of branes but tells you just about everything else.

[ParanoiA]

Thanks ajb. I'm currently reading "Elegant Universe", albeit slow - deliberately. I'm trying to understand the concepts as I go along - taking the time to make silly posts here and looking up info on the net - rather than rushing through it.

 

It will likely be a while before I finish it if I keep at this current pace. If it doesn't include harmonics, I will certainly give your suggestions a try.

 

Meanwhile, I would still like to know if we know anything about Harmonics of String vibration yet. I thought it was still an unknown at this point.