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Does anyone out there hold the position that string theroy is background independent? This has never been made clear to me, although i have seen some very convincing arguments that it is background-dependent, and because of this ST does not deserve all the money and man power it has received in the last 20 years.

2007-03-05 11:44:18 · 1 answers · asked by showtime 1 in Science & Mathematics Physics

1 answers

It is background-dependant, although in principle CAN be background-independant...But that doesnt mean its wrong...It has led to other findings like M-theory, which is basically a unification of the different String Theories. Like anything else along the way, it was a building block, and there was enough promise along that route that theoretical physics has gone that direction. But its not like its ONLY study of String Theory, its study that builds upon that foundation.

We are at a turning point in the near future. The experiments at CERN when they come online this year are powerful enough to prove deeper than ever into the structure of matter, and should reveal whether we've wasted the last 20 years or not :)

The experiments i refer to are searching for Supersymmetric particles, most notably the Higgs boson. If these are found, it opens a whole new revolution of particle discovery like the one that occured in the 60s, with new particles being discovered left and right, with each new collider that comes online.

There are competing theories out there, and i havent even touched the surface of them, but String Theory and its resulting Theories make the most mathematical sense so far, which is why alot of effort has gone into it...

Sorry for rambling, but it really is an interesting time in physics. keep an eye on it for the next couple of years as results start coming out of CERN...link is below...

2007-03-05 12:13:11 · answer #1 · answered by Beach_Bum 4 · 0 0

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