Farewell to Reality
Page 40
mis-selling of the superstring
programme 205—7
multiverse and 224—6, 229—31
reality check 202—5
the graviton and 188—9
Witten and the first
superstring revolution 190—2
supersymmetry (SUSY) ix, x, 163—5, 187, 205n, 208, 209, 231, 261, 288, 299, 300
assumption 164
breaking 174, 190
convergence of subatomic
forces and 170
derived from string theory
argument 187
end of 179—81
hierarchy problem and 168—9
MSSM and 165—6, 165n, 166, 167, 169
split 180
supergravity and 172—4, 190
superpartners 165—8, 172
superstring theory and 187—8
SUSY reality check/weighing
the evidence 174—8
SUSY, LSP and the problem
of dark matter 170, 178
symmetry between fermions
and bosons and 162—5
weakening of grip of 299
WIMPS, search for and 178—80
symmetry 118, 119, 121, 132, 141, 155—9
and development of SUSY 162—5 see also
supersymmetry
and search for grand
unification 159—62
continuous symmetry
transformations 155—9
spontaneous symmetry-
breaking 68—73, 130, 139, 141, 142, 155, 162, 165—8, 170, 174, 288
Susskind, Leonard 185, 223—4, 226, 231, 250—1, 252, 269, 281, 293—4, 296
tachyons 187, 188, 194
Tammy Kitzmiller et al. vs
Dover Area School District
et al. 271, 273
Tao of Physics, The (Capra) 180
tau 75, 77n, 137, 138
taxonomy, particle 64—5
Tegmark, Max 214—15, 218, 236—7, 238, 253
Templeton Prize 274
Templeton, Sir John 274
tensor 60
Testability Principle 20, 131, 176, 233, 259, 291, 293
Texas, University of 193
theoretical physicists, intelligence of 287—91
theorizing as a creative process 14—15
Theory Principle, The 17, 21, 130, 195
Thirring, Hans 100
‘thought experiments’, Einstein
challenges Bohr with 42—6, 50
time see spacetime
Tipler, Frank 270, 279
Tomonaga, Sin-Itiro 63
Trivedi, Sandip 225
Turok, Neil 227, 228
Tye, Henry 119
U (1) quantum field theory of
electromagnetism 158, 159, 162
U (1) symmetery group 158, 183n
uncertainty principle, the 38—40, 41, 79, 143, 144, 147, 147n, 228, 248
upsilon 75
Uranus 18—19
US National Accelerator
Laboratory 72 see also
Fermilab
US National Bureau of
Standards, Washington,
D.C. 66
Utrecht, University of 253
vacuum:
catastrophe 143—5
false 69, 70, 79, 120
quantum fluctuations of the 40—2, 68, 143—5, 161, 278
state 68
van Nieuwenhuizen, Peter van 173
vector 60—1
veiled reality 6—8
Veltman, Martinus 71, 188, 202
Veneziano, Gabriele 185, 195
Veracity Principle 22, 102, 131, 259, 285
verifiability 18, 19—20
Vienna Circle 18
Vienna, University of 51
Vilenkin, Alexander 222
von Neuman, John 209—10
W and Z particles 67, 68, 70, 71, 75, 118, 130, 136n, 159, 166, 288
Warped Passages (Randall) 205—6
wave behaviour 28, 31
collapse of the wavefunction 35—8, 42, 45, 47, 50, 52, 132, 133, 182, 209—10, 212, 214, 218, 240
decoherence, amplification
and 211—13
Einstein’s light quantum
hypothesis and 28—30
gravity and light wave 98—9
hidden variables and 47, 48, 49
Leggett’s inequality and 52
parity of 65—6
photon see photons
pilot waves 210—11
Schrödinger’s cat and 132, 133, 134—5
spooky action-at-a-distance
and 42—3, 44, 45
uncertainty principle and 39—40
Von Neuman’s ‘projection
postulate’ and 209—10
wave mechanics 58, 59
wave particle duality 30—1, 286
‘wavefunction of the universe’ 216
weak neutral currents 72
weak nuclear force 57—8, 66, 67—8, 71, 72, 78, 103, 104, 117, 117, 170, 182
Weakly Interacting Massive
Particles (WIMPs) 124, 124n, 141, 172, 174, 178—9, 180
Weinberg, Steven 70—1, 72, 117, 118, 141, 170, 278, 279, 280, 288, 296
Wess, Julius 163
Wheeler, John 97, 147, 215, 216, 246, 247, 267
white dwarf star 125—6
Wilczek, Frank 141
Wilkinson Microwave
Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) 121—2, 127, 128
Wilkinson, David 114, 115
Williams, Robert 276
Wilson, Robert 115
Witten, Edward 190—1, 192, 194, 197, 198, 199, 201, 226, 254
Woit, Peter 174, 190—1, 231
X bosons 160, 161
XENON100
experiment, Gran
Sasso National Laboratory,
Italy 179
Yau, Shing-Tung 193—4, 204
Yeshiva University 185
Zeh, Dieter 211—12
Zangger, Heinrich 183
zino 166, 167, 172, 177
Zumino, Bruno 163
Zwicky, Fritz 123, 125
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