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The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next

Page 45

by Lee Smolin


  academic freedom, 316

  academic landscape (physics, science)

  competition, 264

  consensus establishment/enforcement, 345

  decline in physics graduates, 266

  freshman quantum mechanics courses, 265–66

  innovation, 265–67, 344–48, 350, 351–53

  music industry comparison, 347

  power and seniority, 332, 344–48

  professionalized universities, 264–66, 312

  risk, xvi, xxi, 294, 330–31, 342–44, 353

  seers and, 265–67, 314, 315–16, 318–19, 320–25, 326–31, 344–48, 350, 351–53, 370 n14

  sociology of, 267

  teacher evaluation, 342

  tenure, 345–46

  younger researchers and, 344, 345–47, 350

  See also Peer review

  accelerating motion, 39–40, 360 n2 (ch. 3)

  acceleration, 22

  Adelberger, Eric, 217

  Aerospace Corporation’s Compact High Accuracy Satellite Motion Program, 214

  aether

  atoms, electrons, and, 34–35

  characteristics of, 34

  Earth’s motion and, 37

  electricity, magnetism, and, 38

  invention of, 20, 34

  knot theory, 35

  light and, 20, 34

  Maxwell and, 34, 53

  theory failure, 38, 67

  African Americans in science, 335–37

  Against Method (Feyerabend), 290

  AGASA (Akeno Giant Air Shower Array) experiment, 221–22, 226

  Akulov, Vladimir, 68, 69

  Alberts, Bruce, 344

  Albrecht, Andreas, 230

  alpha (fine structure constant), 216–17

  Ambjøn, Jan, 242, 243

  Amelino-Camelia, Giovanni

  and DSR, 229, 230–31, 232, 233–34

  probing of Planck scale, 225–26, 230–31

  special relativity-Planck length paradox, 227, 228–29

  anthropic principle

  acceptance by some, 161–62, 163, 164–67, 168–70

  carbon nuclei properties, 165

  cosmological constant, 165–66

  cosmological natural selection and, 167–68

  description, 161–62

  fallacious examples, 163–67

  fallacious principle and, 164–65

  as landscape (string) theory “solution,” 161–62, 168–69

  planet biofriendliness example, 163–64

  as poor basis for science, 162, 254

  prediction problem with, 163, 168–69

  randomly distributed parameters problem of, 166

  universes biofriendliness example, 163, 164–65, 167

  antibranes, 157

  antiquark, 56

  approximate duality, 130

  Aristotle

  failure of theories, 3

  motion and, 22

  unification proposals, 20–21, 23, 24

  universe as static, 151

  Arkani-Hamed, Nima, 170, 173

  art and imaginative world, 297

  Ashtekar, Abhay, 239, 249

  atomic realm of physics, viii, 5–8

  atomism, 19

  Auger cosmic-ray detector experiment, 222, 235–36

  axion, 192 “axis of evil,” 208

  background-dependent theories

  ignoring gravity and, 54

  Newtonian point of view and, 44, 54

  string theory problems with, 83, 146–47, 184–86, 191, 198, 239, 255, 271

  background-independent theory

  as basic, 82–83

  general relativity, 44, 54, 81–83, 174, 184–85

  geometry of space, 44, 54, 81–82

  quantum gravity approaches/theory, 83, 85, 86, 239, 247, 249, 251–52, 253, 255, 317

  spatial dimensions, 82

  time, 44, 54, 82

  Baez, John, 313

  Bak, Per, 342–43

  Banks, Thomas, 147

  Barbour, Julian, 321–22, 326, 353

  Barrett-Crane model, 250

  Bekenstein, Jacob

  black holes, 90–91, 139, 190, 191, 250

  MOND, 212

  Beller, Mara, 309

  Bell, John Stewart, 324–25

  Bergmann, Peter, 86, 263

  Berkovits, Nathan, 187, 280

  Big Bang

  brane worlds, 174

  as consensus view, x

  cosmic strings, 171

  general relativity, 44

  Bilson-Thompson, Sundance, 253–54

  biology before/after Darwin, 19

  Bjorken, James, 56, 315

  black holes

  branes and, 138–41

  discoveries of, 90–91

  entropy and, 90, 91, 139, 190, 250

  extremal/near-extremal black holes, 139–40, 190, 283

  final fate of, 91

  gamma-ray bursts and, 224

  general relativity and, 44

  horizon of, 89–90, 322

  information and, 91, 145, 190, 251

  information paradox, 91

  loop quantum gravity and, 250–51

  negative dark energy and, 145

  quantum theory and, 89–91, 189–91

  radiation of, 91

  spacetime bounce and, 251

  string theory limitations on, 189–91

  temperature and, 90, 91, 139, 190, 250–51

  temperature-mass relationship, 90

  Bohn, David, 323, 369 n21

  Bohr, Niels

  and quantum theory debate, 7

  as seer, 309, 311

  unified field theory, 51–52

  Boltzmann, Ludwig, 241

  bosons

  description, 67

  sharing states by, 68

  string theory invention, 105, 106, 112

  supersymmetry and, 92, 94

  weak, 58

  See also specific types

  Bousso, Raphael, 155, 158

  Brahe, Tycho, 27, 29

  branes

  black holes and, 138–41

  definition/description, 136–38, 138, 155

  extremal brane systems, 139–40

  stabilizing higher dimensions with, 155–59

  string theory limitations on, 189–90

  brane worlds, 138, 174

  Brief History of Time, A (Hawking), 243

  Bronstein, Matvei Petrovich, 85–86

  Brout, Robert, 61

  Bruno, Giordano, 18, 19, 23

  Calabi, Eugenio, 122–23

  Calabi-Yau spaces, 122–23, 156

  Candelas, Philip, 122–23

  Carnap, Rudolf, 296

  Catholic Church and unification of sun, stars, 18–19, 23

  causal dynamical triangulation, 242–43, 242

  causal set theory, 243–44

  causal structure of spacetime, 241

  Challenger disaster, 286

  Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan, 269

  Chronicle of Higher Education, 345

  Clausius, Rudolf, ix

  Coleman, Sidney, 221, 289

  conformal field, 195

  Connes, Alain, 245

  on narrowness of string research, 275

  on innovation and younger scientists, 346–47

  noncommutative geometry, 246–47, 275

  constants, 215–17

  constants in string theory, 108–9

  constructive theories, 10–11

  Copeland, Edmund, 171–72

  Copernican revolution, 3, 20–21, 23, 24

  Cosmic Landscape, The (Susskind), 276

  cosmic microwave background

  cutoff and cosmological constant, 207

  description, 205, 206

  inflation theory and, 207–8

  quantum gravity effects, 251

  temperature fluctuations in, 205

  cosmic rays

  AGASA (Akeno Giant Air Shower Array) experiment, 221–22, 226

  Auger cosmic-ray detector experiment
, 222, 235–36

  cosmic microwave radiation and, 220, 221

  energy/speed of light and, 219, 221

  GZK prediction/cutoff, 220–21

  pions and, 220, 221

  possible breakdown of special relativity and, 221–22, 225–26

  protons and, 219, 220–21

  source of, 219, 220

  cosmic strings, 171, 172

  cosmological constant

  causal set theory and, 243

  definition/description, 150, 204

  Einstein, 151–52

  energy density of empty space, 151

  expanding universe and, 152–53

  history of, 150–52

  “problem” reversal, 247

  scale of, 204–5

  Stanford group’s positive constant work, 156–57, 197

  string theory problems with, 153–60, 180, 189

  uncertainty principle, 152

  cosmological constant, new approach

  accelerations and, 209–14

  cosmic microwave background and, 204–5, 206, 207–8

  dark matter and, 210, 211, 212, 213

  Milgrom’s law/MOND and, 210–13

  neutrino masses and, 217

  scale of, 204–5

  similar scales to, 205, 207–14, 217–18

  spacecraft trajectories and, 213–14

  speed of light and, 209

  cosmological natural selection, 167–68

  cosmology

  early discoveries in, x–xi

  problem of quantum gravity and, 5–8, 12, 13

  See also universe

  crafts function, 297

  craftspeople

  description, 309, 314, 351

  normal science and, 310, 311–12, 314, 324

  string theorists as, 313–14

  Crane, Louis, 313, 317

  creationism, 25–26

  Cushing, John, 370 n14

  Dalton, John, viii

  dark energy

  amount of, 16

  cosmological constant and, 150

  discovery of, 149–50

  effects of, xii, 150

  negative, 142, 143, 145

  as problem, 13, 16

  string theory problems with, 191–92

  supernova observation and, 150, 363 n1 (ch. 10)

  tension and, 15–16

  dark matter

  acceleration and breakdown in Newton’s laws, 210, 211, 212, 213

  amount of, 16

  electromagnetic field, 10–11

  as missing matter, 14–15

  as problem, 13, 16, 209

  string theory problems with, 191–92

  Darwin, Charles, 19, 322

  Dawkins, Richard, 167

  D-branes. See branes

  de Broglie, Louis, 7, 309, 323

  decoherence, 252–53

  Dell, John, 96

  De Rujula, Alvaro, 338–39

  Descartes, René, 256–57

  Deser, Stanley, 92, 93, 97

  Deutsch, David, 325

  De Wit, Bernard, 147

  DeWitt, Bryce

  black holes, 145, 251

  quantum gravity, 87, 88

  as seer, 313

  Wheeler-DeWitt equation, 314–15

  D’Hoker, Eric, 187, 280

  Dimopoulos, Savas, 173

  “dinosaurs in Africa” (creationism), 25–26

  Dirac, P.A.M., 86

  distance. See units of distance/time

  Doppler shift/effect

  quasar study and, 216

  spacecraft trajectories and, 213

  Dowker, Fay, 313

  Dreyer, Olaf, 153, 247

  DSR (deformed/doubly special relativity) theory

  criticism of, 233

  description, 226–27, 232–36

  development of, 227, 228–32

  DSR II, 232

  loop quantum gravity predictions on, 252

  as real science, 236, 237, 238

  soccer-ball problem of, 235

  special relativity and, 227, 229, 236

  2 + 1 quantum gravity, 234–35

  dualities

  of strings and fields, 110–11

  types of, 130–31

  Dukas, Helen, 49

  Dvali, Gia, 173

  Dyson, Freeman, x, xxiii, 49–50, 278

  eclipses, 101–2

  Eddington, Arthur, 43

  Ehrenfest, Paul, 48

  Einstein, Albert

  accelerating motion, 39–40

  appreciation for, 80–81

  atoms and, ix–x, 241

  cosmological constant, 151–52

  debate over quantum theory, 7, 9

  Earth’s motion, 37

  general relativity, 43

  hidden-variables theory, 323

  historical/philosophical context of science, 310–11, 312

  at Institute for Advanced Study, 49–50

  as quantum theory founder, 4, 7

  as seer, 309, 311, 314, 322, 328, 353

  special relativity, 36, 37, 38, 42

  theories of principle vs. constructive theories, 10

  unification of electricity and magnetism, ix, 36

  unification of gravity and relativity, 39

  unification of motion and rest, 39

  unified field theory, 49–50, 51–52, 53

  universe as evolving concept, 150–52

  See also specific works

  electric field, Faraday’s studies of, 31, 32. See also electromagnetic field

  electricity and magnetism. See unification of electricity and magnetism

  electromagnetic field

  as basic type, 38

  as constructive theory, 10–11

  as geometry of space dimension, 47

  photon affinity and, 68

  electron

  Kaluza-Klein theory and, 46

  as constructive theory, 10

  as wave/particle, 6

  electroweak force. See Weinberg-Salam model of electroweak force

  electroweak theory, 11

  eleven-dimensional supermembrane theory, 135

  Ellis, George, 322–23

  emergence (arising of new properties), 131–32

  emergent particle, 132

  emergent properties

  definition/description, 132

  strings, gauge theory and, 142

  emergent string

  definition/description, 132

  electric field lines and, 141

  fundamental strings vs., 132–33

  End of Time, The (Barbour), 321

  Englert, François, 61

  epicycles, xvii, 21, 24, 195–96, 218

  equivalence principle, 40, 41, 42–43

  eternal inflation, 162, 167–68, 215

  Euclid, 41, 44

  Euclidean geometry, 41, 42, 44, 81

  evolution, 19, 25–26

  exact duality

  definition/description, 130

  T-dualities as, 135–36

  exclusion principle, and fermions, 67–68

  extra dimensions

  search for, 172–73

  stability, 155, 158

  verification of, 172–74

  extremal/near-extremal black holes, 139–40, 190, 283

  Fabric of the Cosmos, The (Greene), xv

  Fabric of Reality, The (Deutsch), 325

  Faddeev, Ludwig Dmitrievich, 88

  Faraday, Michael

  electric, magnetic field studies of, 31–32, 110

  as mechanist, 33

  Farhi, Edward, 64–65

  Faster Than the Speed of Light (Magueijo), 230

  fermions

  exclusion principle and, 67–68

  Kostant and, 96

  string theory invention, 105, 106, 111, 112

  supersymmetry, 92, 94

  Feyerabend, Paul

  experimental anomalies, 154, 304

  science views and, 290–91, 292, 293, 296, 304

 

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