String-derived renormalization of Yang-Mills theory

We review the application of bosonic string techniques to the calculation of renormalization constants and effective actions in Yang-Mills theory. We display the multiloop string formulas needed to compute Yang-Mills amplitudes, and we discuss how the renormalizations of proper vertices can be extracted in the field theory limit. We show how string techniques lead to the background field method in field theory, and indicate how the gauge invariance of the multiloop effective action can be inferred form the string formalism. (Proceedings of the 29th International Symposium on the Theory of Elementary Particles, Buckow (Germany), Aug.-Sept. 1995. Preprint DFTT 04/96)