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This is an introduction to the properties of D-branes, topological defects in string theory on which string endpoints can live. D-branes provide a simple description of various nonperturbative objects required by string duality, and give new insight into the quantum mechanics of black holes and the nature of spacetime at the shortest distances. The first two thirds of these lectures closely follow the earlier ITP lectures hep-th/9602052, written with S. Chaudhuri and C. Johnson. The final third includes more extensive applications to string duality.
Joseph Polchinski (Fri,) studied this question.