Recent Developments in String Theory: A Brief Review for Particle Physicists

TL;DR

Recent developments in string theory suggest progress towards a non-perturbative formulation that could connect the theory with observable particle physics, offering hope for future breakthroughs.

Contribution

This review highlights recent advances in string theory aimed at establishing a non-perturbative framework linking it to the standard model.

Findings

Progress towards a non-perturbative formulation of string theory

Potential connections between string theory and supersymmetric standard-model physics

Encouraging developments over the past two years

Abstract

At the present time, string theory (and its generalizations) remain relatively abstruse subjects to the particle phenomenologist and experimentalist. Yet, striking developments of the last two years offer hope that a fundamental non-perturbative formulation of this theory will be found, and that this formulation will permit us to make contact with supersymmetric standard-model physics. This article is based on a talk which attempted to convey the essence of these recent developments in string theory, in a non-technical manner, to an audience of particle theorists, phenomenologists and experimentalists.