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Single Idea 21177

[filed under theme 27. Natural Reality / B. Modern Physics / 5. Unified Models / b. String theory ]

Full Idea

String theory works as a quantum theory of gravity because string vibrations can describe gravitons, the hypothetical carriers of the gravitational force.

Gist of Idea

String theory offers a quantum theory of gravity, by describing the graviton

Source

New Scientist writers (Why the Universe Exists [2017], 09)

Book Ref

New Scientist writers: 'Why the Universe Exists' [John Murray 2017], p.169

A Reaction

Presumably the main aim of a quantum theory of gravity is to include gravitons within particle theory. This idea has to be a main attraction of string theory. Compare Idea 21166.

Related Ideas

Idea 21166 Standard antineutrinos have opposite spin and opposite lepton number [New Sci.]

Idea 21194 The Standard Model omits gravity, because there are no particles involved [Hesketh]

The 67 ideas from New Scientist writers

19947 Hilbert Space is an abstraction representing all possible states of a quantum system [New Sci.]
17603 Chemistry just needs the periodic table, and protons, electrons and neutrinos [New Sci.]
17604 We are halfway to synthesising any molecule we want [New Sci.]
19477 General relativity predicts black holes, as former massive stars, and as galaxy centres [New Sci.]
19475 Relativity makes time and space jointly basic; quantum theory splits them, and prioritises time [New Sci.]
19476 String theory needs at least 10 space-time dimensions [New Sci.]
19474 Quantum states are measured by external time, of unknown origin [New Sci.]
19478 Light moves at a constant space-time speed, but its direction is in neither space nor time [New Sci.]
19473 The Schrödinger equation describes the evolution of an object's wave function in Hilbert space [New Sci.]
16419 No one has yet devised a rationality test [New Sci.]
16418 People can be highly intelligent, yet very stupid [New Sci.]
16417 About a third of variation in human intelligence is environmental [New Sci.]
16420 84.5 percent of the universe is made of dark matter [New Sci.]
19482 Current physics says matter and antimatter should have reduced to light at the big bang [New Sci.]
19483 CP violation shows a decay imbalance in matter and antimatter, leading to matter's dominance [New Sci.]
19484 Psychologists measure personality along five dimensions [New Sci.]
19954 It is impossible for find a model of actuality among the innumerable models in string theory [New Sci.]
19953 In string theory space-time has a grainy indivisible substructure [New Sci.]
19952 Black holes have entropy, but general relativity says they are unstructured, and lack entropy [New Sci.]
19955 Space-time may be a geometrical manifestation of quantum entanglement [New Sci.]
19737 A system can infer the structure of the world by making predictions about it [New Sci.]
19736 Neural networks can extract the car-ness of a car, or the chair-ness of a chair [New Sci.]
19949 Quantum theory relies on a clock outside the system - but where is it located? [New Sci.]
19950 Entropy is the only time-asymmetric law, so time may be linked to entropy [New Sci.]
19948 Einstein's merging of time with space has left us confused about the nature of time [New Sci.]
19951 Entropy is puzzling, so we may need to build new laws which include time directionality [New Sci.]
21140 Spin is a built-in ration of angular momentum [New Sci.]
21144 Top, bottom, charm and strange quarks quickly decay into up and down [New Sci.]
21138 Neutrons are slightly heavier than protons, and decay into them by emitting an electron [New Sci.]
21141 Neutrinos were proposed as the missing energy in neutron beta decay [New Sci.]
21143 Quarks in threes can build hadrons with spin ½ or with spin 3/2 [New Sci.]
21142 Classifying hadrons revealed two symmetry patterns, produced by three basic elements [New Sci.]
21149 Quarks have red, green or blue colour charge (akin to electric charge) [New Sci.]
21159 Supersymmetry has extra heavy bosons and heavy fermions [New Sci.]
21160 The Higgs field means even low energy space is not empty [New Sci.]
21154 Three particles enable the weak force: W+ and W- are charged, and Z° is not [New Sci.]
21155 Photons have zero rest mass, so virtual photons have infinite range [New Sci.]
21150 Three different colours of quark (as in the proton) can cancel out to give no colour [New Sci.]
21146 Electrons move fast, so are subject to special relativity [New Sci.]
21147 Quantum electrodynamics incorporates special relativity and quantum mechanics [New Sci.]
21148 The strong force is repulsive at short distances, strong at medium, and fades at long [New Sci.]
21152 The strong force binds quarks tight, and the nucleus more weakly [New Sci.]
21151 Gluons, the particles carrying the strong force, interact because of their colour charge [New Sci.]
21158 Fermions, with spin ½, are antisocial, and cannot share quantum states [New Sci.]
21145 The four fundamental forces (gravity, electromagnetism, weak and strong) are the effects of particles [New Sci.]
21157 Particles are spread out, with wave-like properties, and higher energy shortens the wavelength [New Sci.]
21153 The weak force explains beta decay, and the change of type by quarks and leptons [New Sci.]
21156 The weak force particles are heavy, so the force has a short range [New Sci.]
21162 Only supersymmetry offers to incorporate gravity into the scheme [New Sci.]
21161 In the standard model all the fundamental force fields merge at extremely high energies [New Sci.]
21164 Why do the charges of the very different proton and electron perfectly match up? [New Sci.]
21165 Spin is akin to rotation, and is easily measured in a magnetic field [New Sci.]
21163 The mass of protons and neutrinos is mostly binding energy, not the quarks [New Sci.]
21168 Gravitional mass turns out to be the same as inertial mass [New Sci.]
21167 Gravity is unusual, in that it always attracts and never repels [New Sci.]
21166 Standard antineutrinos have opposite spin and opposite lepton number [New Sci.]
21170 The Standard Model cannot explain dark energy, survival of matter, gravity, or force strength [New Sci.]
21169 Only neutrinos spin anticlockwise [New Sci.]
21171 The symmetry of unified electromagnetic and weak forces was broken by the Higgs field [New Sci.]
21172 The evidence for supersymmetry keeps failing to appear [New Sci.]
21173 Supersymmetry says particles and superpartners were unities, but then split [New Sci.]
21174 Dark matter must have mass, to produce gravity, and no electric charge, to not reflect light [New Sci.]
21175 String theory might be tested by colliding strings to make bigger 'stringballs' [New Sci.]
21177 String theory offers a quantum theory of gravity, by describing the graviton [New Sci.]
21179 Supersymmetric string theory can be expressed using loop quantum gravity [New Sci.]
21176 In the Big Bang general relativity fails, because gravity is too powerful [New Sci.]
21178 String theory is now part of 11-dimensional M-Theory, involving p-branes [New Sci.]