[pdf] Strings, branes, and gravity. TASI 99 Theoretical Advanced Study Institute in Elementary Particle Physics, Shamit Kachru, Eva Silverstein, Jeffrey Harvey, Jeffrey A. Harvey, Shamit Kachru, Eva Silverstein, Jeffrey Harvey

Many of the topics in this book are outgrowths of the spectacular new understanding of duality in string theory which emerged around 1995. They include the AdS/CFT correspondence and its relation to holography, the matrix theory formulation of M theory, the structure of black holes in string theory, the structure of D-branes and M-branes, and detailed development of dualities with N = 1 and N = 2 supersymmetry. In addition, there are lectures covering experimental and phenomenological aspects of the Standard Model and its extensions, and discussions on cosmology including both theoretical aspects and the exciting experimental evidence for a non-zero cosmological constant.