A first: String theory predicts an experimental result

[n2doc]

February 16, 2009 | 4:49 pm

Glennda Chui
Posted in AAAS 2009 |


A slide from Barbara Jacak's presentation, originally from icanhascheezburger.com

One of the biggest criticisms of string theory is that its predictions can’t be tested experimentally–a requirement for any solid scientific idea.
That’s not true anymore.

At a AAAS session on Sunday, physicists said string theory is making important contributions to the study of two extreme forms of matter –one heated to trillions of degrees, the other chilled to near-absolute zero. In both cases the matter became a “perfect liquid” that ripples and flows freely, like water. String theorists analyzed the results by applying what they had learned from pondering how a black hole might behave in five dimensions. Then they went on to calculate just how free-flowing these liquids might be, predictions that the experimenters are using to guide the next stage of their work.

“It’s really a surprising, I would say serendipitous, once-in-a-generation convergence of scientific communities,” says Peter Steinberg, a nuclear physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory and one of the organizers of the panel. “None of us saw this coming.”

more:

http://rorr.im/digg.com/general_sciences/a_first_string_theory_predicts_an_experimental_result/

[crimsonblue]

1. I'm not big on string theory at all.

I've tried to believe it, but the idea of 11 dimensions is too elegant a solution to be plausible, IMO. I lean more towards traditional quantum theory (specifically loop quantum gravity), and trying to build towards a reconciliation with general relativity from there. Plus, string theory does little to explain the early Universe in a believable manner (IMO, again). I think that the Big Bang was not the initial beginning of all existence of the Universe, but rather the bounce-back from a universal contraction into a singularity (at which point, the Universe exploded in a new Big Bang). So I guess it is possible that our current Big Bang was the first one, but it isn't the last one (this also assumes that the Universe's acceleration of expansion is declining-- which, according to my understanding of the 2nd law of Thermodynamics it would have to, as the acceleration would be met by entropy, slowing its affect-- meaning that it will reach an end point of expansion before collapsing into itself).