Why String Theory? PDF
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WHY STRING THEORY? WHY STRING THEORY? Joseph Conlon Boca Raton London New York CRC Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742 © 2016 by Joseph Conlon CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business No claim to original U.S. Government works Version Date: 20151020 International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4822-4249-2 (eBook - PDF) This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint. Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information stor- age or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www.copy- right.com (http://www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that pro- vides licenses and registration for a variety of users. For organizations that have been granted a photo- copy license by the CCC, a separate system of payment has been arranged. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the CRC Press Web site at http://www.crcpress.com To the citizens and taxpayers of the United Kingdom, without whom this book could never have been written. Contents Section I Why? hapter C 1 (cid:4) The Long Wait 3 hapter C 2 (cid:4) Scales of Science: Little and Large 11 hapter C 3 (cid:4) Big Lessons of Physics 21 3.1 SPACEAND TIMEARECUTFROMTHESAMECLOTH 21 3.2 SPACETIMEIS DYNAMICAL 22 3.3 THEWORLDIS DESCRIBEDBYQUANTUMMECHANICS 25 3.4 THE WORLD REALLY, HONESTLY, TRULY IS DESCRIBED BYQUANTUMMECHANICS 28 3.5 NATURELIKES SYMMETRIES 34 3.6 THEUNIVERSEWASYOUNG,SMOOTHAND HOT,BUT IS NOW OLD,COLD AND WRINKLY 40 3.7 DIFFERENTCAN BETHESAME 47 3.8 NATUREIS SMARTERTHANWEARE 51 hapter C 4 (cid:4) The Truth Is Out There 53 Section II What? hapter C 5 (cid:4) What Was String Theory? 67 5.1 THEBIRTH 67 5.2 THENAMING CEREMONY 69 5.3 THEWILDERNESS YEARS 73 5.4 HARBINGERSOFGREATJOY 78 5.5 THELIMELIGHT 83 5.6 THETHEORYFORMERLYKNOWNAS STRINGS 86 vii viii (cid:4) Contents hapter C 6 (cid:4) What Is String Theory? 93 6.1 QUANTUMFIELD THEORYBYANY OTHERNAME 93 6.2 THEMISANTHROPIC LANDSCAPE 96 6.3 FIFTYYEARS ON 102 Section III What For? hapter C 7 (cid:4) Direct Experimental Evidence for String Theory 107 hapter C 8 (cid:4) Why Strings? Quantum Field Theory 109 8.1 THEPROBLEMOFSTRONGCOUPLING 111 8.2 THEADS/CFT CORRESPONDENCE 115 8.3 APPLICATIONS TOCOLLISIONS OFHEAVY IONS 122 8.4 APPLICATIONS TOCONDENSED MATTERPHYSICS 130 hapter C 9 (cid:4) Why Strings? Mathematics 137 9.1 PEERRESPECT 137 9.2 OFMONSTERSAND MOONSHINE 142 9.3 MIRRORSYMMETRY 146 9.4 CULTSINPHYSICS 150 hapter C 10(cid:4) Why Strings? Cosmology and Particle Physics 155 10.1 EXTRADIMENSIONS AND MODULI 155 10.2 WHATMAKES MODULIAND WHAT MODULIMAKE 161 10.3 AXION LIKE PARTICLES 169 10.4 COSMIC MAGNETISM 172 10.5 EXPERIMENTAL ENNUI 176 hapter C 11(cid:4) Why Strings? Quantum Gravity 179 11.1 COUNTING BLACK HOLES 181 11.2 SINGULARITIES AND TOPOLOGYCHANGE 186 11.3 THEULTIMATE COLLIDER 189 Section IV Who? hapter C 12(cid:4) AThousandFlowersBlooming:StylesofScience195 12.1 THEREVOLUTIONARIES 196 Contents (cid:4) ix 12.2 VORSPRUNGDURCHTECHNIK 199 12.3 STOCKHOLMORBUST 203 12.4 THEMOST SUBLIMEBRAHMINATEOFPRINCETON 206 12.5 ILFAUT CULTIVERNOTREJARDIN 210 hapter C 13(cid:4) #EpicFail? Criticisms of String Theory 213 hapter C 14(cid:4) Why String Theory? 227 14.1 REASONSFORSUCCESS 227 14.2 RIVALS AND COMPETITORS 232 14.3 PREDICTING THEFUTURE 235 Notes and Bibliography 237 Index 243
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