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String Theory. What it’s all about The Basics. String theory is an attempt at understanding how the universe works : both what it’s made of and how it behaves . The very basic idea is that particles aren’t points , but instead stretched strings .
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Whatit’sallaboutThe Basics • Stringtheory is an attempt at understandinghow the universeworks: bothwhatit’s made of and howitbehaves. • The verybasic idea is thatparticlesaren’tpoints, butinsteadstretchedstrings. • The stringscaneitherbeclosed, like a ring, or open. • Thisalong with the waytheyvibrategivethemtheirtraits, makingelectronsdifferentfrommuons, for example.
Whystrings? One of the reasonswhystringtheory is sopopular is thatitexplainsgravity on a quantumlevel, whichisn’tnearly as easy with pointparticles. It’salso a path to connecting the 4 fundamentalinteractions:gravity, electromagnetic, weak and strongforces Italsodoesn’tseem to haveanymajordiscrepancies with whatwealreadyknow
Whyisn’tthis in textbooks? Sincestringtheory is aboutparticles in highenergies, this is allverytheoretical – wehave no way of experimentingtheseideas. It’salsovery new, and research is on-going.
The History of StringTheory String theory is a result of a research program called the S-matrix theory which was begun by Werner Heisenberg in 1943 and had the support of many theorists. However due to it not changing things much, it was quickly forgotten. The theory itself was that the strongly interacting particles were in fact extended objects, and because there are difficulties of principle with extended relativistic particles, he proposed that the notion of a space-time point broke down at nuclear scales. In 1958 TullioRegge discovered that bound states in quantum mechanics can be organized into groups with different angular momentums called Regge trajectories. All these theories contributed to string theory.
Kaluza-Klein Theory The theory of extra dimensions Kaluza and Klein made a crucial discovery for inventing string theory between 1921 and 1927: electromagnetism can be derived from gravity if there are four space dimensions
The Birth of StringTheory Gabriele Veneziano, a researcher at CERN noticed that properties of strong nuclear force have in common with the Euler beta-function in 1968 Deeper research revealed that the interactions of elementary particles modeled as one–dimensional strings were described thoroughly by the Euler beta-function. Later experiments in the 1970s revealed that many of the theory's predictions were noticeable only with experimental data. Point-particle theory succeeded and string theory was left behind The reason for this was that String vibrations produce observable properties that we see in fundamental particles, for instance, string theory seemed to provide vibrating configurations that corresponded to the properties of gluons It also provided other vibrating patterns which were soon shown to correspond with properties of the graviton which were not welcome
The Revolutions of Super StringTheory • Super string theories are string theories including fermionic vibrations • The first super string revolution was brought to publicity by Michael Green and John Schwarz in 1984 • It resolved the conflict between string theory and quantum mechanics and also proved that string theory encompasses the fundamental forces and all the matter in existence • The super string revolution brought physicists around the world to once again research the same theory they had earlier abandoned • It was thought that the theory was the most promising to unify physical theories
The Revolutions of Super StringTheory • After years, investigations led to the invention of super symmetry • The next few years showed that the features of the standard model can be derived from the new string theory but the equations of the new theory were so difficult that the exact form could not be defined • approximations had to be used which were found insufficient, and string theory was discarded • This resolved the conflict between string theory and quantum mechanics and also proved that string theory encompasses the fundamental forces and all the matter in existence
The Revolutions of Super StringTheory The second super string revolution started in 1995 at a conference called Strings, where Edward Witten suggested moving to further research areas He was one of those who found evidence for different superstring theories, like M-theory The consequences of his ideas are still being analyzed by theorists seeking the final answers from what they believe will prove to be the “theory of everything”
Theory of all M-theory M-theory is not yet complete, but the underlying structure of the mathematics has been established and is in agreement with all the string theories. Furthermore, it has passed many tests of internal mathematical consistency... But the final experimental certification is either impossible or very hard with current technology.
Basis: -Five different string theories -The beginning of everything is “Bosonic String Theory” -Bosonic String Theory is the original version of string theory, developed in the late 1960s. -That original String Theory only described particles that were bosons, and it did not describe Fermions at all. So quarks and electrons, for instance, were not included in Bosonic String Theory. --->
---> -Mixing the best features of the bosonic string and the superstring theories, we can create two other consistent theories of strings, Heterotic String Theories. -By introducing supersymmetry to Bosonic String Theory, we can obtain a new theory that describes everything... The forces and the matter which make up the Universe. -The basic idea of supersymmetry is that every fundamental particle has its own so called “superpartner”. All superpartners have same features as their original particle but they have half-integer spin. -There are three different superstring theories which make sense, i.e. display no mathematical inconsistencies. -In two of them strings are closed and from third on open strings are the building blocks.
Dimensions The basic assumption is that we obviously have only three dimensions of space and one of time. However, if we assume that six of these dimensions are curled up very tightly, then we may never be aware of their existence. But one of the most remarkable predictions of String Theory is that space-time has ten dimensions! Later in 1995 the most well known researcher of string theories Edward Witten with his colleague Paul Townsend found the 11th dimension. • So now we have five different theories of strings which comprise 10 dimensions.
M-theory M-theory -New idea was that instead of one there are five different, healthy theories of strings (three superstrings and two heterotic strings) there is only one theory -those five different theories are part of one theory, they are only different aspect. This was called M-theory.
M-theory • M-theory includes 11 dimensions • four space-time dimensions + seven very very small dimensions • The first "theory of all“ • Explains forces and matter • The first theory which is able to explain BOTH quantum mechanics and general gravity • It would also seem to be able to explain black holes
References and sources http://www.onemanswonder.com/2011/11/us-versus-us-tied-together-by-string.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory http://www.superstringtheory.com/history/history4.html http://www.fractalforums.com/general-discussion-b77/imaginary-numbers/ http://responsiveuniverse.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/can-astrophysics-prove-that-an-afterlife-exists/ http://www.mozardien.com/halls/2011/12/30/superstring-theory-solved-by-supercomputer/ http://library.thinkquest.org/27930/stringhistory.htm http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/research/gr/public/qg_ss.html http://superstringtheory.com/
