Download NMP_Paper 1_String Theory

Nico Portuondo
2/22/16
Professor Bray
String Theory and the Flaw of Popular Science
For the past century, scientists and mathematicians have been in hot pursuit of the
elusive “Theory of Everything” or more specifically a unified and consistent description of the
structure of our universe. At the moment, modern physics is divided into two fields: Einstein’s
general relativity and quantum mechanics. General relativity focuses on the gravitational
nature of massive objects such as galaxies, planets, and black holes while quantum mechanics
deals with the tiniest parts of our universe: atomic and subatomic particles. Not only do the
theories differ in the size of the objects they focus on, but the very principle of general
relativity, the idea that gravity bends space time, is about a force that quantum mechanics does
not even consider because it is negligible at such small scales. Instead quantum mechanics
focuses on the other three forces of the universe, weak nuclear force, strong nuclear force, and
electromagnetic force, in what is called the “standard model” of particle physics. Even in the
very line of thought of the two theories they differ as general relativity provides predictability
and order while quantum mechanics deals only in uncertainty and probability. In essence, the
two laws that describe our universe have nothing to do with each other, a fact that most
physicists and mathematicians cannot accept.
The most popular theory that can unify the description of our universe and the four
forces (electromagnetic force, the weak nuclear force, the strong nuclear force, and gravity) is
“String Theory”. String theory can be hard to explain in immense detail due to its abstract
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mathematical concepts and as Dr. Michael Dine points out “If you ask different string theorists
what string theory is, you’ll get different answers.” (Henderson 2) but the general elements can
be established1. String theory starts at an unimaginably small level, the constituents of the
particles that make up protons and neutrons: quarks. Inside these quarks, string theorists
believe that there is an enormous amount of “strings” or moving filaments of energy. String
theorists believe that these strings come in two different forms, closed and open, and that
these strings attach themselves onto “branes”. Like the strings of a guitar or a cello, they
vibrate but rather than producing musical notes they “produce the different particles making
up the world around us” (Greene). In other words, the different frequencies of the vibrations
coincide with different particles such as electrons and photons, making these strings the very
source of everything in and around us. Thus every force of the universe comes from a single
entity and are therefore fundamentally connected.
This theory that uses such minimalistic mathematical concepts to explain the mess of
quantum gravity makes it quite easy to see why physicists and mathematicians have been so
widely drawn to studying it. For the past few decades, string theory has dominated particle
theory as the most used approach to unify the standard model and quantum gravity (Woit 153).
As one string theorist puts it “String theory is too beautiful a mathematical structure to be
completely irrelevant to nature (Woit, 155)”. This beauty in simplicity, however, has been
corrupted by new advances in the theory that complicate things immensely. First of all, the
mathematics of string theory only work if there are multiple dimensions, specifically ten
dimensions of space and one of time. Most string theorists believe that the other six
dimensions we cannot see are curled up into extremely small imperceptible sizes that only
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subatomic strings can interact with. The other stipulation to string theory is the idea of super
symmetry, or the idea that for every fermion in the universe a complimentary boson exists.
Super symmetry vastly simplifies the mathematics of string theory and is therefore basically
necessary for the theory to be viable.
The problem with these stipulations, and more generally string theory in itself, is that
they are completely unproven and probably unprovable. The presence of extra dimensions in
our universe is a completely theoretical proposal to accommodate string theory and while it is
possible to search for these extra dimensions, absolutely no evidence has been found.
Physicists hopeful for data supporting super symmetry in the Higgs Boson discovery found “the
truth is that evidence for these ideas is scant to nonexistent .” (Mann). The inability to test or
prove extra dimensions or super symmetry reflects a larger problem of string theory in general,
which Peter Woit describes as: “The problem with string theory is that it makes no predictions
about anything, not that it only makes indirectly testable ones.” (Woit). Woit proposes that
string theory is “not even wrong”, a term coined by Wolfgang Pauli to describe speculative
scientifically useless theories, and many respected physicists and mathematicians have taken
up some of his ideas. Ultimately, Woit argues that it becomes difficult to reason why such a
large portion of particle physicists are invested in a theory that has not been supported by any
empirical evidence for over forty years.
The problem of string theory may even begin to reflect a larger institutional bias in
regard to how scientific theory is pursued as a career. This bias is detailed by Woit as he says:
“One reason that only one new theory has blossomed is that graduate students,
postdocs and untenured junior faculty interested in speculative areas of mathematical
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physics beyond the Standard Model are under tremendous pressures. For them, the
idea of starting to work on an untested new idea that may very well fail looks a lot like a
quick route to professional suicide. So some people who do not believe in string theory
work on it anyway” (Woit, 2)
This idea is also detailed by Lee Smolin, as he believes “a lost generation” of theoretical
physicists has been created by the domination of string theory. String theory is essentially the
only option for particle physicists to gain academic fame and respect, which is reflected in the
fact that “eight of the nine MacArthur fellowships awarded to particle physicists over the years
have gone to string theorists.” (Holt). In essence, the creativity that scientists like Einstein and
Heisenberg showed to create world changing theories is being lost in today’s theoretical
physicists as they are basically forced to adhere to a single unproven theory to gain any high
ranking job as an academic.
String theory, a simple and eloquent model of a chaotic universe, may be bringing out
the ugliest aspects of the scientific community. Fundamentally, popularity should not be an
indication of whether a theory is acceptable or not in physics, yet increasingly string theory
seems to be more and more backed only by popularity. Smolin and Woit fear that the academic
physics community is becoming more and more like any other group of humans, one that
values similarity over everything and marginalizes people who think differently. Of course string
theory is nothing less than a brilliant idea in itself and could very well be the long sought
solution to quantum gravity, but the idea that we may be wasting geniuses on a flawed idea is a
very frightening idea indeed.
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Citations

Schwarz, Patricia. "The Official String Theory Web Site." The Official String Theory Web
Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.

Greene, Brian. "Transcript of "Making Sense of String Theory"" Brian Greene: Making
Sense of String Theory. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2016

Woit, Peter. Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in
Physical Law. New York: Basic, 2006. Print.

"Unstrung - The New Yorker." The New Yorker. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.

"The Admiral of the String Theory Wars." Not Even Wrong. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2011
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