Category Archives: String Theory

Joe Lykken on “Some good/bad news about string theory”

Posted on August 29, 2011 by

Joe Lykken, “String Theory for Physicists,” XXXIII SLAC Summer Institute, 2005, Lecture 1 [PDF]; Lecture 2 [PDF]; and Lecture 3 [PDF]. “Some good/bad news about string theory: Good: String theory is a consistent theory of quantum gravity. Bad: It’s really a … Continue reading →

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String theory and mathematical fertility

Posted on July 17, 2011 by

“String theory dominates the research landscape of quantum gravity physics (despite any direct experimental evidence) due to its mathematical fertility. String theory has generated many surprising, useful, and well-confirmed mathematical ‘predictions’ made on the basis of general physical principles entering into string … Continue reading →

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On the nature of time in string theory

Posted on July 16, 2011 by

The journal Foundations of Physics commemorates “Forty Years of String Theory.” Vijay Balasubramanian (University of Pennsylvania) steps back and ask what we do not understand about time. What is time?  Within the broader quantum gravity community outside string theory there has … Continue reading →

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Baez & Huerta in Scientific American: “The Strangest Numbers in String Theory”

Posted on April 30, 2011 by

  “Octonions were largely neglected since their discovery in 1843, but in the past few decades they have assumed a curious importance in string theory. And indeed, if string theory is a correct representation of the universe, they may explain why … Continue reading →

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Kane in Physics Today, “String theory and the real world”

Posted on January 18, 2011 by

“String theory solutions make unambiguous, testable predictions about our four-dimensional universe. To test string theory is like to test Newton’s second law F = ma (a relation between the force F on a particle with mass m and its acceleration … Continue reading →

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The advice of Albert Einstein to candidates for string theorists

Posted on January 3, 2011 by

Excerpt from Albert Einstein, “On the Method of Theoretical Physics,” Philosophy of Science 1: 163-169, Apr. 1934.

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