Will we ever find a theory of everything and will a version of string theory be the explanation?
Is it possible to combine the theory of relativity (which explains the movement of large bodies) with quantum mechanics (which explain the action of sub-atomic particles) into a Grand Unification Theory (GUT) that would account for everything from the big bang to black holes? Currently the best bet for such a GUT or Theory of Everything (TOE) is a version of string theory called M-Theory which unifies all five string theories.
If this seems complicated, wait till I tell you that a fundamental ingredient of M-Theory is the p-brane (not the pea brain!). A brane is an object that can have a variety (p) of spatial dimensions, so a 1-brane is a string, a 2-brane is a surface, and so on. The real problem occurs with the news that the latest theories suggest that there are 10 or 11 p-branes or dimensions and not just the four dimensions that we know.
Science author Jim Baggott has written:
“The discovery of the Higgs boson was a triumph for the standard model of particle physics. This is the theory that describes reality at the level of elementary particles and the forces between them and which helps us to understand the nature of material substance. But we know the standard model can’t be the whole story. There are lots of things it can’t explain, such as the elementary particle masses, the existence of dark matter or dark energy, and it takes no account of the force of gravity.
There are no clues in the available scientific data about how these problems might be solved, and theorists have been obliged to speculate. But, in Farewell to Reality, I argue that in their ambition to develop a “theory of everything”, some theorists have crossed a line. The resulting theories, such as superstring theory (or M-theory), are not grounded in empirical data and produce no real predictions, so they can’t be tested.”
Is he right? Professor of theoretical physics Mike Duff thinks not.
You can read an exchange between Baggott and Duff here.
July 4th, 2013 at 5:47 pm
A bit behind the times here Roger. A few years ago whilst on a second bottle of Rioja and reading Advanced String Theory for beginners in Egyptian dialect (Alexandrian version)I came to “Farewell to Reality” well before anyone else. This was of course in the strictly mathematical version as mere prose is hopeless in conveying the beautiful symmetry of the universe as we know it.As to empirical data and real predictions who would have forecasted a second Egyption revolution which is just on our doorstep and in the very real macro world (except me of course when inbibing and being verbose on my third bottle of Rioja – just ask my brother who can be very pessemistic about these things – but not me!. To me its a no braner.