Contributing Authors -- Preface -- The Thermodynamics of Black Holes, Robert M. Wald -- Introduction to Quantum Fields in Curved Spacetime and the Hawking Effect, Ted Jacobson -- Large N field theories and gravity, Juan Maldacena -- Lectures on D-branes, tachyon condensation, and string field theory, Washington Taylor -- Billiard dynamics, Thibault Damour, Marc Henneaux, Hermann Nicolai -- Tall tales from de Sitter space, Robert C. Myers -- Causal Sets: Discrete Gravity, Rafael D. Sorkin -- Thermal Decay of the Cosmological Constant into Black Holes, Andrés Gomberoff, Marc Henneaux, Claudio Teitelboim, Frank Wilczek
0
The 2002 Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute School on Quantum Gravity was held at the Centro de Estudios Cientificos (CECS), Valdivia, Chile, January 4-14, 2002. The school featured lectures by ten speakers, and was attended by nearly 70 students from over 14 countries. This volume contains lectures given at the School