Part 1: An Introduction to Type II Superstring Theory
Jill Ecker, Isabel Koltermann (ThEP)

In this talk we will give a very basic introduction to string theory, aimed mostly at Master and PhD students. Our presentation will be continued in the Pizza Seminar in the following week, where we will concentrate on the respective subjects of our doctoral work.
The talk starts with a short motivation and an historical overview, followed by a presentation of the basic objects in string theory. The next step consists in aspects of string phenomenology, in particular model building with D-branes and strings. Finally, we will address some important mathematical aspects of string theory including moduli space and Hodge numbers.