Covariant Quantization of the Superstring

After reviewing the Green-Schwarz superstring using the approach of Siegel, the superstring is covariantly quantized by constructing a BRST operator from the fermionic constraints and a bosonic pure spinor ghost variable. Physical massless vertex operators are constructed and, for the first time, N-point tree amplitudes are computed in a manifestly ten-dimensional super-Poincaré covariant manner. Quantization can be generalized to curved supergravity backgrounds and the vertex operator for fluctuations around AdS₅ × S⁵ is explicitly constructed.