Sydney Sun

Kappa

3/13/08

Content Part 1: Belief in SS Theory and why

String theory attempts to unite the large world (galaxies, universe, stars) and the

small world (subatomic particles, atoms, quarks). Subatomic particles are particles that

are smaller than an atom. Atoms are the smallest particles that have an elemental

influence and have an electron cloud that surrounds a dense nucleus. A quark is a particle

that forms protons and neutrons. Quarks come in 6 different "flavors" or types; up,

down, strange, charm, top, and bottom (Greene) String theory is the belief that the world

is comprised of tiny strings that oscillate in different ways which create atoms and quarks

which in turn promotes the different functions and actions of small world and the large

world and everything in between. String theory has been able to explain both the large

and small world as separate entities but now it faces the challenge of connecting the two

(Szabo). Recently, String Theory has become very popular, with a show on KQED "The

elegant Universe" and a pop culture icon Brian Greene, who wrote the book "The elegant

Universe". But, this theory had a lot of bumps on the road to getting to its current

popularity. It wasn’t until John Schwarz and Michael Green created and discovered the

anomaly cancellation calculation—which basically stated that in order for The

Superstring Theory to make sense, there had to be certain conditions of dimensions, and

there would be 496 of them and it implied the graviton which, is a subatomic particle that
describes gravity-- in 1984 that Superstring Theory became popular and validated as a

legitimate Theory. This calculation was also how John Schwarz became known as one of

the fathers of the Superstring theory. For a long time he was one of the only physicists

who believed in and went along with the Superstring Theory. But, he did not care that he

was ostracized from the rest of the Physics community, he believed in what he was doing,

"I was immediately convinced this was worth devoting my life to...It's been my life work

ever since." (New York times, John Schwarz). The culture of being involved with the

Super String Theory Movement and School is devotion. When people get into the Super

string theory they devote the rest of their lives to it because it offers them something that

maybe nothing else can. What string theory has to offer is infinity. " String theory is not

like anything else ever discovered. It is an incredible panoply of ideas about math and

physics, so vast, so rich you can say anything about it."(New York Times, Edward

Witten). The soul of what the theory and its community are all about. It offers the

chance that it can be anything or everything. The “everything” is what is offered to

people like John Schwarz and the people who just believe.

Super String Theory, "For the first 25 years, the thinking has been that Super

String theory is so difficult to see experimentally that you have to figure it out by its own

mathematical consistency and beauty.” This quote calls for innovation. It gives nod to

exactly how much the early believers had to step out of the box in order to have done

what they did. A quick description of what the beginning was like and what string theory

is, "Just like an ordinary guitar string, a fundamental string can vibrate in different

modes. And it is these different modes of vibration of the string that are understood in
string theory as being the different elementary particles."(New York Times, Whitten).

This quote was one of the founding ideas as to how Super String theory got started. This

quote is a great example of the blueprint of Super String theory because it depicts String

theory clearly and concisely. Now, that String theory has come so far, the future is what

String Theory has to face, because string theory is so vast and is “everything”. This

everything concept came about when Einstein decided that he didn’t like quantum

mechanics. From there in 1921the Kaluza-Klein theory was developed. The theory

states that Electromagnetism can come from gravity in a unified theory if there are 4

dimensions instead of 3. The fourth dimension is curled into a tiny circle, so that a

particle moving a short distance along that axis would return to where it began. The

distance the particle can travel before reaching its initial position is the size of a

dimension. This extra dimension is a compact by having space-time compacted with

dimensions is called compactification.

This picture is looking at the world plane, which

is the flat side of a string. This picture shows that the circumference is a dimension that is
compacted. That string is also a dimension. Because string theory claims that is it is correct
both the universe and quarks are made of the same matter. So, traveling once around the
entire string is equal to traveling across a dimension.
 This is another way of viewing the first picture. But, instead of viewing the
compactification in relation to a string, this one focuses on the
compression. When the Compression occurs, the string becomes a lot denser,
but it still contains a dimension, just jam-packed in a small package, which is
the string.

The combination of the first two pictures creates this one. Like the first picture, this one
shows the flat side of the string and like the second one it also shows the way particles move
around the string, which is the way a particle moves around a dimension. The black circles
are way that a particle can move once, twice, or not at all.
 String Theory was officially born in 1970. How it happened was that three

particle theorists independently realized that the dual theories developed in 1968 to

describe the span of particles can also describe quantum mechanics and oscillating

strings, those oscillating strings become string theory. Since then other topics and

theories were developed based on string theory like Supersymmetry in 1971, Gravitons

1974, Supergravity 1976, and Supersting theory in 1980, which is string theory, and

Supersymmetry combined (refer to math section). Superstring Theory is based on the

introduction of a world sheet super-symmetry that relates the space-time

coordinates. This came about when physicists decided that all the strings are all

symmetric and that every string in theory has a "unique resonance" (Szabo). Different

resonances determine different forces. The tension in a string is on the order of the Plank

Force (1044 Newtons). The graviton (the gravity particle) for example, is predicted to be

a string with a resonance of zero. Another insight of this theory is that no differences can

be detected between strings that wrap around dimensions smaller than themselves and

ones that move along larger dimensions

String Theory has come a long way, passing through different times in history and

the hands and minds of different Physicists. Each transition added a new idea to String

Theory. It started with Einstein's dislike quantum mechanics and discovering the theory

of relativity, to the Kaluza-Klein theorem of compactification of 1921, The Schwarz-

Green mechanism of 1980, and the pop culture icon Brian Green. But, with all of these

believers and track record or discoveries, there are those that don't believe. But, that does

not slow down the progression of string theory, this summer, the Large Hadron Collider
will be turned on and if it's discoveries coincide with physicists like Schwarz, than string

theory will be that much closer to becoming the grand unifying theory; bringing together

quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity.

Sydney Sun

Kappa

3/15/08

Content Part 2: Criticisms of String Theory

Even thought String Theory has come a long way, there are those who doubt

String Theory. Some even believe that String Theory shouldn’t even be studied or given

any more recognition because the theory has no proof that it exists. The theory also has a

lot of inconsistencies. Because of the lack of proof and consistency and the incessant

devotion, other physicists dub that devotion as fanaticism. Where the actual furthering of

physics takes a back seat to a personal fulfillment. So, some believe that String Theory

isn’t going to lead the Physics community anywhere, "We bemoan the fact that Einstein

spent the last 30 years of his life on the fruitless quest, but we think it's fine if a thousand

theorists spend 30 years of their prime on the same quest"(New York Times, Krauss).

This is where the line between devotion and fanaticism comes in; Einstein was devoted to

modern physicists are fanatics. That some people are willing to devote their lives to a

theory that might not even be true and has no proof as of now that it’s even true.

One of the main Physicists that disagree with String theory is Lawrence Krauss—
professor of physics and astronomy at Case Western Reserve University and the author of

"The Physics of Star Trek"—. Professor Krauss believes that String Theory is just hype,

kind of like scientific pop culture and the reason why people choose not to believe that is

because he is raining on a non-existent parade, "If you throw cold water on something,

inevitably you always appear to be a villain. Secondly, to some extent, the question you

might have is 'Why bother?' Why debate this subject? Why not talk about the many other

things that are going on in physics? I know the public is fascinated by it, so I think it's

important to try to explain to them that, in fact, it is really a theory in crisis, or not a

theory at all." Professor Krauss believes that people should be informed that string

theory shouldn’t be taken seriously. Krauss wants to keep the public from false

information, he believes that string theory is a case of fanaticism so string theory is

something that should not be something that is trusted or thought of as common

knowledge. Because if it is, society will be turned in the wrong direction since string

theory is not real and there is nothing that backs it up, it is all theoretical. Which adds

another level to the reason why the Large Hadron Collider is so important. The Large

Hadron Collider will determine whether String Theory can move forward and if it can

ever be proven depending on the Large Hadron Collider and if it can find the Higgs

Boson (god particle) because that particle delegates mass, which means that the

inconsistencies that Krauss pegs String Theorists for having will now longer have an

effect because they are there because of the Higgs Boson. But, until the day comes that

the analysis of the findings of the Large Hadron Collider is finished string theory will be

known as a case of fanaticism to skeptics and even the action of finding the Higgs boson
is open to criticism. String theory is only somewhat mathematically sound, but

experimentally it doesn't even exist.

Krauss is trying to prevent people from devoting their lives to a cause that will

never make a change to the world of Physics. He doesn't want the world to believe and

change their lives toward something that is imaginary. It's similar to people who devote

their lives to religion and then find out it was all false. There is such a level of

devastation in that discovery that is totally destroys a person, let alone a nation of people

or a world of people. "The debate is twofold. A: Does string theory have anything to do

with the real world? And B: Is it, as I like to put it, ready for prime time? Is it worth all

the hype and has it made any progress? I think the answer is no. It's been incredibly

unsuccessful. It's a theory in crisis — it hasn't really achieved any of its major goals as

espoused 20 years ago. I'm not saying a physicist shouldn't be looking at this stuff. I just

think it's not worthy of a lot of attention. Now, there are no really good alternatives, but I

can guarantee when there is, everyone is going to drop string theory like a hot potato and

go onto something else." String Theory has a lot of hype around it, and there is not

another theory in physics community yet that can tie together quantum mechanics and the

theory of relativity. But, that does not mean that String Theory is correct, it just means

that there is not something else that can produce an answer yet. But, when that day

comes and another theory is developed, String theory will pass with the wind and it's

hype and everything will be gone, all the hype, faith, science, and belief in string theory

will dissipate.
Sydney
Kappa
3/20/08

Content Part 3: Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a gigantic scientific machine near Geneva, it

spans across Switzerland and France 100m underground (CERN. 18 April 2008). The

LHC is particle accelerator used by physicists to study the smallest known particles. The

LHC will revolutionize our understanding, from the smallest world located in Atoms to

the vastness of the Universe. How the Large Hadron Collider will accomplish its

intended goal, id to shoot two beams of subatomic particles called 'hadrons' – either

Protons (a subatomic particle with a positive charge) or lead ions (a free ion with a

positive charge)– the particles will travel in opposite directions inside the circular

accelerator, with every lap, the particles will gain energy (CERN. 18 April 2008).

Physicists will use this process to recreate the conditions just after the Big Bang, this will

happen by colliding the two beams at a very high energy (Exploratorium. 13 March

2008). After the process is finished, teams of physicists from around the world will

analyze the particles created by the collisions (Exploratorium. 13 March 2008)

 This is a picture of what the clash to find the Higgs Boson might look like. It will be an intense
clash because the two particles would have been traveling through the circle of the LHC over
and over building momentum very time it makes one complete rotation and after some time, the
two particles will clash, and it might look like this visual.

This is a layout of what the Large Hadron Collider looks like. The two beams are where
the two particles will be shot out of, and it also shows the circular form of the LHC, and
even though it looks small it is actually 17 miles long.

The result of the LHC is what String theory is trying to accomplish, the

connection between the large and the small. The result of the Large Hadron Collider will

supposedly produce the Higgs Boson. The Higgs Boson or the "God Particle" is one of

the main concepts that are missing from String Theory, it is the part that both critics and
believers are vying for, just in the opposite opinions. (Exploratorium. 13 March

2008) The Higgs Boson is a particle or a bunch of particles that give others mass. If the

Higgs Boson is proven to exist, then it will be a huge step forward for the String believers

because it will prove how mass less elementary particles still manage to construct mass in

matter and that gravity is actually a particle called the graviton. Which means that all of

the particles, atoms, quarks, and subatomic particles that are missing can be accounted to

the Higgs Boson because that is the particle that decides mass and the graviton will be

one of the particles that the Higgs Boson controls. The Higgs Boson should be an absurd

particle because mass should be an inherent characteristic, but the Higgs boson decides

how mass is delegated. (Exploratorium. 13 March 200)

To understand the Higgs mechanism, imagine that a room full of physicists chattering
quietly is like space filled with the Higgs field...
... a well-known scientist walks in, creating a disturbance as he moves across the room
and attracting a cluster of admirers with each step...

... this increases his resistance to movement, in other words, he acquires mass, just like a
particle moving through the Higgs field...
... if a rumor crosses the room...

... it creates the same kind of clustering, but this time among the scientists themselves. In
this analogy, these clusters are the Higgs particles. (Exploratorium. 13 March 2008)

Like I stated earlier, String theory isn't proven. It has nothing that states that it is

the truth. This theory is just that, a theory it is a collection of hypothetical science. But,

what I found interesting about String Theory is the line between devotion and

fanaticism. Many other subjects also require devotion, but string theory calls for it
without the people even knowing if it is true or not. So, this debate between devotion and

fanaticism has created a great divide within the physics community. But, the Large

Hadron Collider can shift the scales. Like I stated earlier the LHC will attempt to find t

he Higgs Boson which will be a significant step for String theory, if Higgs boson is

found. If it is not, then it will be very difficult for String Theory to continue. If string

theory is proven to be correct and the Higgs Boson is found then the quantum theory of

gravity is found, which is the main issue in connecting quantum mechanics and the

theory of relativity. If this is completed, then it will challenge what society thinks

religion is and how the world started. The Big Bang theory will be correct, and religion

to reform itself, whether it has to acknowledge the big bang theory or they have to state

that god created the big band or string theory. There could be the potential of having a

scientific and religious battle for the culture of humanity. But, if the Higgs Boson isn't

found then string theory fails, and the physics community will have to develop a new

theory to explain the relation between quantum mechanics and the theory of

relativity. Basically if string theory fails then the physics community is back at square

one and has to start all over. But most importantly the outcome of the Large Hadron

Collider will decide whether string theorists are people of amazing foresight, faith, and

devotion or if they are a group of intellectual fanatics.

Sydney Sun
Kappa
4/13/08

String Theory Bibliography

Websites

"Ideas: Higgs Boson." Origins CERN. 2000. Exploratorium. 13 March 2008 <http://
www.exploratorium.edu/origins/cern/ideas/higgs.html>.

Schwarz, Patricia. The Official String Theory Website. Official String Theory Website. 14
Feb 2008 <http://www.superstringtheory.com/>.

"The Elegant Universe." Nova. 2003. PBS. March 3 2008 <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/

nova/elegant/>.

Newspaper Articles

Johnson, George. Physicists Finally Find a Way To Test Superstring Theory." New York
Times 4 April 2000

Holt, Jim. "Unstrung." Unstrung;In string theory, beauty is truth, truth beauty. Is that
really all we need to know? 2 October 2006:

Overbye, Dennis. String Theory, at 20, Explains it all (or not)." New York Times 7
December 2004

Books

Greene, Brian. The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest
for the Ultimate Theory . New York: Vintage, 2000.

Szabo, Richard J. An Introduction to String Theory and D-Brane Dynamics. London:

Imperial College Press, 2004.