Mathematics in and out of String Theory (Q4252876)

The author presents results on the geometry of Teichmüller spaces and moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces which are of interest in string theory, respectively which have been inspired by ``stringy'' ideas. It is an expanded version of the opening lecture in the 37th International Taniguchi Symposium ``Topology and Teichmüller spaces'' which was held in 1995. It gives a very useful pedagogical introduction into the subject. First the Polyakov action and the string path integral are explained. Using ``gauge invariance'' its heuristic transformation to a well-defined expression on Teichmüller space respectively on moduli space is given. This transformation leads to the Polyakov form. It is expressed with the help of the Weil-Petersson volume form involving Selberg's zeta function. The determinant of cohomology construction is introduced and Mumford's isomorphism for the determinant bundles is given. This relates the Polyakov volume form to the Mumford volume form. In the second part the author presents the construction of the universal Teichmüller space \(T_\infty\) which contains the Teichmüller spaces of all genera. It is defined with the help of unramified coverings. The construction is essentially due to the author in joint work with \textit{I. Biswas} and \textit{D. Sullivan} [Acta Math. 176, No. 2, 145--169 (1996; Zbl 0959.32026)]. Finally, the universal Polyakov-Mumford construction on \(T_\infty\) is given. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0901.00037].