String theory Definition and 833 Threads

Hi everyone! I’m a physicist at heart, drawn to big questions about the universe. My thesis journeyed through String Theory and the Maldacena conjecture a long time ago, but three years ago, I leapt into AI with a PhD focused on Reinforcement Learning. It turns out, physics and AI aren’t so...

Hello, I’m looking for some feedback on my statement of purpose. I’m looking to get into a PhD program for high-energy theory. For a bit of background, I studied math during undergrad, then got into an accelerated quantum computing-focused physics masters’ program. I did alright (3.8 GPA) in...

It is common to hear in popular sources (at least from the people that like to rant) that string theory has taken over real physics, that physics has been lost since the development of the string theory program, that much effort has gone into string theory with no results, and so on... I would...

As I understand it all string theories have the following bosonic fields: the metric ##G_{\mu\nu}##, the Kalb-Ramond gauge field ##B_{\mu\nu}## and the dilaton field ##\Phi##. Is it true that the electromagnetic field arises from components of the Kalb-Ramond field ##B_{\mu\nu}## where ##\mu##...

- I have in essence never understood the concept of curled up dimensions in string theory ; in the sense that if it occurs in this universe isn't that included in our 3 dimensional space ? My question is more fundamental in the sense from a topology viewpoint : was it correct to involve curled...

So QFT treats particles as excitations of their underlying quantum field, meaning that fields are more fundamental than particles. Then String theory comes in and says that actually strings are the fundamental building block of the universe and that the different particles are vibrating strings...

TL;DR Summary: Currently applying for a scholarship for a PhD, and I feel like I need some help finding interesting research propositions/questions when it comes to M-theory. I would be thankful for all the help I could get! I'm currently attending a masters program in theoretical physics and...

In Classical Mechanics you solve for a particle’s position through F=ma or the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods. Quantum Mechanics you solve for the wavefunction or density matrix either the Schrodinger or Von Neumann Equations respectively or use Operator and Path Integral Methods...

Here is the article titled "In a ‘Dark Dimension,’ Physicists Search for the Universe’s Missing Matter" by Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org/in-a-dark-dimension-physicists-search-for-missing-matter-20240201/

A few yesrs ago now I read a First Course in String Theory. In that book strings were part of normal space-time plus for consitency some extra dimensions. Spin 2 partices natually emerged and so did GR. I didnt think anything of it at the time (pun intended), but I recently saw a...

Hi, I have heard all this hype about a Physicist named Ed Witten and how instrumental he is to something called “String Theory”. I tried listening to one of his lectures on YouTube and reading one of his papers and I couldn’t follow anything. I was hoping to figure out the prerequisite...

this paper arXiv:2310.02958 [pdf, other] What if Quantum Gravity is "just'' Quantum Information Theory? Aron C. Wall Comments: 6 pages, 2 figures. Additional references added to arxiv version Journal-ref: Proc. 28th Solvay Conf. Phys., ed. D. Gross, A. Sevrin, P. Zoller, World...

I will try to word this in a way that does not violate forum rules. As I look at the struggles of string theory and loop quantum gravity and the struggles of trying to unify quantum mechanics and general realtivity in general such as the need for a framework for quantum physics which does not...

String theory is a vast topic, and no grade 9 book will have content on it. However, no site or video gives it the attention this topic deserves, please input your understanding of string theory here. here are a few general questions to think about: 1)What is string theory? 2)Why was it made...

NANOGrav waves are real observational data, and now this: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.08601. I don't know much in this area of research, except for the basics on LIGO and the like. Any comment from the knowledgeable members here?

The following discussion is from reading this short paper: The dangers of non-empirical confirmation https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.01966 The following are quotes from the paper, and my observations and questions. "excessive reliance on non-empirical evidence compromises the reliability of...

Recently I've came to some references on mathematical aspects on string theory that deal with the Polyakov euclidean path integral. An example is the book "Quantum Fields and Strings: A Course for Mathematicians. Volume 2", where it is stated roughly that the path integral is $$A =...

In theories of particle physics based on string theory, the characteristic length scale of strings is assumed to be on the order of the Planck length, or 10−35 meters. I am sure few people have heard about the long strings theory. If there is information on the topic big request to share it...

I am currently reading this paper where on page 8, the authors say that: This correlates with Figure 8 on page 12. Does it mean that there is a real correlation between eigenvalues and Lyapunov exponents?

I was going through this paper where on page 5 they argue that in the given Poincare section: I am a bit confused by this statement. How does the given saddle point correspond to the black hole horizon and is it necessary that it acts as a source of chaos? Any explanation would be truly...

I am trying to reproduce the results from this paper. On page 10 of the paper, they have an equation: $$ \frac{S}{T}=\int dt\sum _{n=0,1} (\dot{c_n}{}^2-c_n^2 \omega _n^2)+11.3 c_0^3+21.5 c_0 c_1^2+10.7 c_0 \dot{c_0}{}^2+3.32 c_0 \dot{c_1}{}^2+6.64 \dot{c_0} c_1 \dot{c_1} \tag{B12} $$ where they...

Some BSM theories, often but not exclusively string theory inspired, have an extra time dimension, as well as extra spatial dimensions. I'm trying to make sense of what it even means to have more than one time dimension, ideally, with a concrete example that illustrates how the second time...

What do you recommend to read first, Supergravity by Freedman or A First Course in String Theory by Zweibach? For future consideration.

Roughly how many people in this world actually know about string theory? I'm guessing no more than a few hundred because the math of string theory is so esoteric.

one of the claimed successes of string theory is its ability to derive the correct Hawking-Bekenstein equations to calculate the quantum entropy of a black hole without any free paramenters, specifically Extremal black hole entropy using supersymmetry and maximal charge. I was wondering if...

I was just wondering how much work is being done in the field of quantum gravity nowdays. Is there still a huge volume of research published on the topic? Are we closer to a "solution" nowdays than we were a few years ago? And also, what exactly would constitute a solution to such problem?

I understand that string theory has almost no testable predictions, however loop quantum gravity is an enticing candidate for only quantum gravity and it doesn't explain much of symmetry, constants, mixing angles etc in Standard model. There is obviously not enough evidence to create a full...

Or will confirm its predictions? As far as I can tell, you can only raise the bar on the energies required from the accelerator, but you cannot give an upper bound, where beyond it the theory is doomed... This isn't science... we might as well say we need infinite energies. 🙃

I am doing private studies in string theory and am reading "A first course in string theory" by Barton Zwiebach. Below equation 6.52 the author says "Since the second term on the right-hand side must vanish...". I do not understand why this term must vanish, and I would be grateful for an...

I had a few questions about this paper by Nima Arkani-Hamed, Georgi Dvali and Savas Dimopoulos (https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/9907209) which is closely related to the concept of branes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brane) 1. The authors of the paper mention that the branes in the model could...

(Sorry about writing a book! But I felt more information was the better mistake.) Okay, here's the deal. I have been teaching myself Physics and Math beyond my MS in QFT. I have been doing this for the last 20 or so years and I've gotten reasonably decent at it but String Theory is a bit...

Non-critical string theory, on Wikipedia it says: Has it been experimentally disproven or are other reasons for its apparent obscurity?

From what I understood Supersymmetry means there are more particles than we currently know about and they are predicted by (some/all, I do not know) versions of String theory. Is it so important to String theory or can it work without SUSY? Thank you!

Is it easy to combine them or impossible? Is there a tension due to the non-locality found in Bohmian mechanics? Thank you!

I'm trying to understand how the RS model solved the hierarchy problem from this mass relation $$ M^2_p = \frac{M^3}{k} \Large[1- e^{-2k\pi r} \Large],$$ Equ. 16 in their paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/9905221 With k as large as the Planck scale, the exponential will be so small and...

Hello! The paper I study is related to string theory and modified gravity theories topics. As they say in page 5 “The four-dimensional effective theory now follows by substituting Eq. (13) into the original action, Eq. (4)” I wonder how did they drive a 4- dimensional effective metric...

According to Michio Kaku, Nobel laureates have taken both sides towards string theory since some of them accept it and some of them reject it, as he says here (https://www.snowboundbooks.com/book/9780385542746): “Kaku also explains the intense controversy swirling around this theory, with...

Are there any living Nobel laureates in physics (apart from David Gross, François Englert and perhaps Gerard 't Hooft and Steven Weinberg) who have made research in string theory or at least find it attractive?

I'm trying to do the following question from David Tong's problem sheets on string theory: > A theory of a free scalar field has OPE $$\partial X(z)\partial X(w) = \frac{\alpha'}{2}\frac{1}{(z-w)^2}+...$$. Consider the putative candidate for the stress energy tensor $$T(z) = \frac{1}{\alpha '}...

I'm learning string theory from the book by Zwiebach and others. I'm trying to understand the quantisation of the open string and its mass spectrum. In light-cone gauge the mass-shell condition of an open string is given by: $$M^2 = 2(N - 1)/l_s^2$$ where ##N =...

In string theory, physical states satisfy QBΨ = 0, where QB is the BRST operator. This equation of motion can be obtained from an action S = ∫ QBΨ*Ψ + Ψ*Ψ*Ψ There is a gauge invariance under δΨ = QBΛ. what is the framework in which the role of the BRST operator QB is understood in open string...

I'm currently a fresh grad student in theoretical physics, and I'm still deciding to choose which research group to join. My current understanding (maybe I'm wrong) is the PhD theme pretty much determines the topic for future post-doc research so I kinda need to choose very carefully. I'm...

Hi, I was given the task to read this paper https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0204051 entitled "A semi-classical limit of the gauge/string correspondence" by Polyakov. On page 7 of this paper it is mentioned that the maximal radial coordinate of the string is p0 and that the string is constrained by...

Hello, I am spending time learning more about the theory of special relativity and string theory. One of the things that I have read about string theory is that it includes other dimensions in relation to space (space has 9 dimensions in string theory, supposedly). However, from what I...

There are several models of brane cosmology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brane_cosmology) and several physicists working in this field (e.g Lisa Randall and Raman Sundrum), but as you will notice, apparently they are all directly related to string theory. This has several consequences, for...

String Theory and related theories like M Theory have strong constraints in the number of dimensions where they can be formulated (for example, in the case of M theory, it is only allowed in 11D or in the case of bosonic string theory is only allowed in 26D. Since string theory and related...

Hey! I'm and undergrad in the third year of my applied physics program. I'm taking a course in Special Relativity, and due to Corona the exam has been replaced by a pretty free project where we delve deeply into a topic related to the course. I'm interested in music, so my professor suggested I...

Some good introductory string theory books that I know are GSW Polchinski McMahon Becker What are the good books at a more advanced level? Are there any such books, or do I have to dig it out of the research papers? There is a set of books called "mirror symmetry" and "dirichlet branes and...

I was reading the book "A Fortunate Universe" by Geraint Lewis and Luke Barnes and something caught my attention: At page 195 the authors say that universes with different symmetries could be modeled and they would have dramatic results like having different conservation laws. I asked Mr...

All String theories include the massless bosonic fields ##G_{\mu\nu}##, ##B_{\mu\nu}## and ##\Phi##. I understand that ##G_{\mu\nu}## is the spin-##2## field of the spacetime metric and ##\Phi## is the spin-##0## dilaton field. The ##B_{\mu\nu}## is called the Kalb-Ramond field and is said to...