Workshop: M Theory in the City

十多年前提出了一个基本的十一维理论，称为M理论，它统一了所有已知的弦理论。从那时起，在研究这个神秘的理论方面取得了很大的进展，但到目前为止，一个真正令人信服的M理论的表述被证明是难以捉摸的。很明显，使用传统的弦摄动方法进行描述将是不合适的，而努力则集中在探索理论的不同方面，这些方面是可以研究的，例如M膜的结构和低能动力学，M理论中的非标准几何，对偶性的外观和表述，M膜在黑色物体熵计数中的作用以及理论的基本对称性。所有这些工作都为M理论的本质提供了线索，我们认为有必要进一步探讨这个基本问题。

Over ten years ago a fundamental eleven dimension theory was proposed called M theory which unifies all known string theories. Much progress has been made since then in studying this mysterious theory, but so far a truly compelling formulation of M theory has proved elusive. It seems clear that a description using conventional string perturbative methods will not be appropriate, and efforts have instead focussed on exploring the different aspects of the theory which are amenable to study, such as the structure and low energy dynamics of M-branes, non-standard geometries in M theory, the appearance and formulation of dualities, the role of M-branes in entropy counting of black objects and the fundamental symmetries of the theory. All of this work has provided clues as to the nature of M theory, and we believe that it is essential to probe further into this fundamental question.