Is String Theory dead?

[gnostic]

Supposedly String Theory was meant to unify 2 opposing fundamental physics theories - General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics - into a single theory.

But I have heard very little from String Theory camp, and though I am not a physicist, it would seem that they have moved away from String Theory, towards Quantum Field Theory.

So is String Theory dead?

 

[shunyadragon]

Supposedly String Theory was meant to unify 2 opposing fundamental physics theories - General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics - into a single theory.

But I have heard very little from String Theory camp, and though I am not a physicist, it would seem that they have moved away from String Theory, towards Quantum Field Theory.

So is String Theory dead?

No, string theory remains an option though like Quantum Mechanics it evolves to adapt to new evidence. String Theory is indeed hypothetical and controversial, because it is more a conceptional explanation and needs much more to establish it as firm theory. At present it cannot be falsified or discard as false.

Some sources are optimistic,

What Every Layperson Should Know About String Theory

It's hailed as the greatest hope for unification in physics, and for a quantum theory of gravity. Here's why are physicists so keen on it.

www.forbes.com

It's one of the most brilliant, controversial and unproven ideas in all of physics: string theory. At the heart of string theory is the thread of an idea that's run through physics for centuries, that at some fundamental level, all the different forces, particles, interactions and manifestations of reality are tied together as part of the same framework. Instead of four independent fundamental forces -- strong, electromagnetic, weak and gravitational -- there's one unified theory that encompasses all of them. In many regards, string theory is the best contender for a quantum theory of gravitation, which just happens to unify at the highest-energy scales. Although there's no experimental evidence for it, there are compelling theoretical reasons to think it might be true. A year ago, the top living string theorist, Ed Witten, wrote a piece on what every physicist should know about string theory. Here's what that means, translated for non-physicists.

Others are more skeptical

Why String Theory Is Still Not Even Wrong

Physicist, mathematician and blogger Peter Woit whacks strings, multiverses, simulated universes and “fake physics”

blogs.scientificamerican.com

At its best, physics is the most potent and precise of all scientific fields, and yet it surpasses even psychology in its capacity for bull****. To keep physics honest, we need watchdogs like Peter Woit. He is renowned for asserting that string theory, which for decades has been the leading candidate for a unified theory of physics, is so flawed that it is “not even wrong.” That phrase (credited to Wolfgang Pauli) is the title of Woit’s widely discussed 2006 book (see my review here) and of his popular blog, which he launched in 2004. Woit, who has degrees in physics from Harvard and Princeton and has taught mathematics at Columbia since 1989, tracks mathematics as well as physics on his blog, and some of his riffs (like a recent one on the difference between Lie groups and Lie algebras) are strictly for experts. But he provides plenty of clear, non-technical explanations for non-experts like me. Woit, whom I’ve known for more than a dozen years, is a good guy. He can be blunt, but he is always fair, and he does not indulge in cheap shots, snark or grandstanding. The next time the media tout an alleged breakthrough in physics or mathematics, check out Not Even Wrong to get the real scoop. Woit and I recently had the following email exchange. —John Horgan

 

[Revoltingest]

So is String Theory dead?

It's knot.

 

[gnostic]

No, string theory remains an option though like Quantum Mechanics it evolves to adapt to new evidence. String Theory is indeed hypothetical and controversial, because it is more a conceptional explanation and needs much more to establish it as firm theory. At present it cannot be falsified or discard as false.

i haven’t heard from them in the last 5 years, as if they don’t seem to be making much headway.

That’s why I am asking if anyone had heard differently.

 

[shunyadragon]

i haven’t heard from them in the last 5 years, as if they don’t seem to be making much headway.

That’s why I am asking if anyone had heard differently.

String Theory is an off out beast in Theoretical Physics, because it is incomplete It did explain some things, but did not resolve everything that was hoped for. Yet it remains part of theoretical Physics awaiting future research maybe a larger particle accelerator

 

[metis]

But I have heard very little from String Theory camp, and though I am not a physicist, it would seem that they have moved away from String Theory, towards Quantum Field Theory.

They are not mutually exclusive.

 

[gnostic]

They are not mutually exclusive.

Perhaps.

Even so, the Quantum Field Theory was able to resolve and answer numbers of questions to the 3 fundamental interactions (or forces) and their connections to the Standard Model of particle physics, that String Theory didn’t answer.

 

[metis]

Perhaps.

Even so, the Quantum Field Theory was able to resolve and answer numbers of questions to the 3 fundamental interactions (or forces) and their connections to the Standard Model of particle physics, that String Theory didn’t answer.

They are different but hypothetically could interrelate. I say "could" because string theory is really more of a hypothesis than a scientific theory. If they exist, we probably could never actually "see" them. Also, hypothetically they may explain why quantum mechanics actually does exist as a reality as the "vibrations" of the strings may alter what they may form.

But notice how often I said "may" above.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

Supposedly String Theory was meant to unify 2 opposing fundamental physics theories - General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics - into a single theory.

But I have heard very little from String Theory camp, and though I am not a physicist, it would seem that they have moved away from String Theory, towards Quantum Field Theory.

So is String Theory dead?

I've heared a lot of jokes about string theory.

Ranging from "The proponents had to invent 7 additional dimensions to make the math work" to "it's no more then intellectual masturbation"

I'm not a physicist or mathematician and I wouldn't dare to pretend to understand the math or any of the actual theoretical concepts involved.
From what I hear and read though, string theory is a mathematical / theoretical / hypothetical attempt at unifying relativity with quantum physics. And from what I hear / read, when seen from 11 dimensions, Einstein's equations seem to pop out. And from what I understand, that is (at least in part) what makes proponents thereof excited and think they are unto something.

But as it stands, there is no way to demonstrate it. In fact, there is even no way to test it. I think it could theoretically be tested, but it would require unfathomable amounts of energy to create the conditions for it, to the point you might as well say that it is untestable now and for the forseeable future.

So yeah.... It certainly seems interesting and there certainly are some odd aspects to it that seem more then coincidental (like Einstein's equations popping out of it at some point). But to put in the words of the fictional Dr Leanord Hofstadder from the show The Big Bang Theory, at this point it doesn't seem to be much more then "yey, I have an idea that is internally consistent...."

That's also why Lawrence Krauss calls it "intellectual masturbation" and says it will remain that way until someone actually comes up with a realistic way to actually properly test it in reality.

 

[Comradio251]

Supposedly String Theory was meant to unify 2 opposing fundamental physics theories - General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics - into a single theory.

But I have heard very little from String Theory camp, and though I am not a physicist, it would seem that they have moved away from String Theory, towards Quantum Field Theory.

So is String Theory dead?

It was a failure from the gecko. I used to hear about it a lot but definitely haven't heard about it in recent days though. It was extremely overhyped by people like Michio Kaku. It's not science and it's mathematical garbage that could never be tested using the scientific method.That's why it moved on from physics to being played with in mathematical physics which is not physics.

Even the math doesn't make a bit of damn sense! Tell me how they got their math started. I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled it out of their you know what and tried to pass it on as fact. It's crankery, period. No real physicist today would take it seriously.

 

[sun rise]

String theory is very much alive. And attempts to create experiments to prove or disprove various theories is also still very much alive as a cursory internet search verifies.

 

[metis]

String theory is very much alive. And attempts to create experiments to prove or disprove various theories is also still very much alive as a cursory internet search verifies.

I wish it was more named "string hypothesis".

 

[gnostic]

it would seem that String Theory and Superstring Theory is theoretically “possible”, but scientifically “improbable”…so far.

 

[gnostic]

I wish it was more named "string hypothesis".

That’s so true.

i don’t think any UNTESTED theoretical model be called “Theory”, until it meet the requirements of Scientific Method.

Calling it theory, and not hypothesis, often causes confusion for who don’t understand how science is formulated and tested.