kb/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_string_theory-1.md

title	chunk	source	category	tags	date_saved	instance
Glossary of string theory	2/5	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_string_theory	reference	science, encyclopedia	2026-05-05T07:51:24.096924+00:00	kb-cron

B

1. Baryon number
2. Short for boson.
3. Short for baryon.
4. Short for backward;for example, σB is the cross section for backward scattering.
5. a bottom meson.

BAO Baryon acoustic oscillation

BB Big Bang

BBN Big Bang nucleosynthesis

bino A hypothetical supersymmetric partner of the gauge field corresponding to weak hypercharge. BIon A BPS solution representing an infinite string ending on a D-brane. Named after the Born–Infeld action.

BPS A state related to the Bogomol'nyi–Prasad–Sommerfield bound. BR Branching ratio

BRS BRST quantization Short for Becchi, Rouet, Stora and Tyutin, who introduced the BRST quantization of gauge theories. brane Short for membrane. a higher-dimensional manifold moving in spacetime. See also p-brane, D-brane.

BTZ Initials of Bañados–Teitelboim–Zanelli, as in BTZ black hole, a black hole in 2+1-dimensional gravity.

BV Batalin–Vilkovisky, as in Batalin–Vilkovisky formalism.

== C ==

c

1. The speed of light, when not using units where this is 1.
2. A central charge of the Virasoro algebra or similar algebra.
3. One of the two conformal ghost fields b, c used in the BRST quantization of the bosonic string.
4. A Chern class.
5. A charm quark.

C

1. Charge, especially the charge symmetry.

Calabi–Yau A Kähler manifold with vanishing Ricci curvature, used for compactifying string theories. CAR Canonical anticommutation relations

CBR Cosmic background radiation

CC

1. Charged current (weak interaction).
2. Complex conjugate
3. Compatibility condition

CCR Canonical commutation relation CCR and CAR algebras

CDF Collider Detector at Fermilab

CDM Cold dark matter

CERN Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire

chargino A hypothetical charged supersymmetric partner of a gauge boson. Chern–Simons 1.
2.
chiral

1. Not invariant under the parity symmetry. The word comes from the Greek χειρ meaning "hand"; the terms "left-handed" and "right-handed" are often used to describe chiral objects.
2. A chiral multiplet is a type of supermutliplet of a supersymmetry algebra.

CIPT Contour improved perturbation theory

CKG Short for conformal Killing group.

CKM The Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa matrix.

CKS Short for conformal Killing spinor.

CKV Short for conformal Killing vector.

CFT Conformal field theory

Chan–Paton A Chan–Paton charge is a degree of freedom carried by an open string on its endpoints.

cl

1. Short for classical (for example, Scl is the classical action).
2. CL is short for confidence limit.

closed A closed string is one with no ends.

CM Center of mass (frame)

CMB CMBR Cosmic microwave background radiation

CMS

1. The Compact Muon Solenoid at CERN, a particle detector.
2. Short for the Center-of-Momentum System, a coordinate system where the total momentum is 0.

compactification A method for reducing the apparent dimension of spacetime by wrapping the string around a compact manifold.

cosmological constant The constant term of the Lagrangian, inducing a term in the action proportional to the volume of spacetime CP Short for Charge–Parity, as in CP symmetry.

CPC Short for Charge–Parity conservation.

CPT Short for Charge–Parity–Time, as in CPT symmetry or CPT theorem.

CPV Short for Charge–Parity violation.

critical The critical dimension is the spacetime dimension in which a string or superstring theory is consistent; usually 26 for string theories and 10 for superstring theories.

CVC Conserved vector current.

CY Short for Calabi–Yau, as in Calabi–Yau manifold, a Ricci-flat Kähler manifold, often used for compactifying superstring theories.

== D ==

d

1. The exterior derivative of a form.
2. A down quark.
3. The dimension of spacetime.

D

1. Short for Dirichlet, as in D-brane
2. The dimension of spacetime
3. A connection or differential operator
4. A Dynkin diagram of an orthogonal group in even dimensions.
5. A charmed meson.

D0

D-brane Dp-brane Short for Dirichlet (mem)brane, a submanifold (of dimension p+1) on which the ends of strings are constrained to lie, so that the strings satisfy Dirichlet boundary conditions. D-string A D1-brane

DBI Short for Dirac–Born–Infeld, as in the DBI action, an action based on the Born–Infeld action, a modification of the Maxwell action of electrodynamics.

DDF Initials of Del Guidice, Di Vecchia, and Fubini, as in Del Guidice–Di Vecchia–Fubini operator, operators generating an oscillator algebra.

DELPHI DELPHI experiment at LEP.

DESY Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron

DGLAP Initials of Dokshitzer–Gribov–Lipatov–Altarelli–Parisi who introduced the DGLAP evolution equation in QCD.

Diff Diffeomorphism or diffeomorphism group.

dilatino A supersymmetric partner of the dilaton. dilaton A massless scalar particle, related to dilations of spacetime. Dirichlet Dirichlet boundary conditions on an open string say that the ends of the string are fixed (often lying on a D-brane).

DIS Deep inelastic scattering

DLCQ Discrete light-cone quantization

DM Dark matter

DØ

Dp-brane Short for Dirichlet (mem)brane, a submanifold (of dimension p+1) on which the ends of strings are constrained to lie, so that the strings satisfy Dirichlet boundary conditions. DR

1. Short for dimensional regularization.
2. Short for dimensional reduction, a way of constructing theories from simpler theories in higher dimensions, sometimes by making fields invariant under some spacelike translations.

dS de Sitter, as in de Sitter space, a Lorentzian analogue of a sphere

dS/CFT de Sitter/conformal field theory, especially the dS/CFT correspondence.

dual resonance model An early precursor of string theory. duality A hidden connection between two different theories, such as S-duality, T-duality, U-duality, mysterious duality. DY Initials of Drell–Yan, as in DY process.

dyon A hypothetical particle with both electrical and magnetic charge.

== E ==

e

1. Euler's constant
2. A frame
3. An electron

E Energy

E6 E6 is the exceptional Lie algebra of rank 6 and dimension 78. E7 E7 the exceptional Lie algebra of rank 7 and dimension 133. E8 E8 the exceptional Lie algebra of rank 8 and dimension 248. eff Short for effective (field theory).

EFT Effective field theory, a low-energy approximation to a theory.

einbein A frame in 1 dimension

elfbein A frame in 11 dimensions