String Theory at Utah

Eric Sharpe
Dept. of Mathematics
University of Utah

At this talk, I'll give a brief overview of modern work on string theory, emphasizing topics worked on by people here at Utah.  Much of the talk will cover the appearance of extra dimensions in string theory, and how one can reconcile that with the real world.  There are two prominent approaches, "braneworlds" and "Compactifications", and I will outline both in turn, discussing possible experimental verifications of some features of each scenario as well as how data from observational cosmology is shaping current attempts to extract phenomenological predictions from string theory.