Andrew Zimmerman Jones - String Theory For Dummies

8 Part 4: The Unseen Cosmos: String Theory on the Boundaries of Knowledge Chapter 15: Making Space for Extra Dimensions What Are Dimensions? 2-Dimensional Space: Exploring the Geometry of Flatland Three Dimensions of Space Four Dimensions of Space-Time Adding More Dimensions to Make a Theory Work Sending Space and Time on a Bender Are Extra Dimensions Really Necessary? Chapter 16: Our Universe — String Theory, Cosmology, and Astrophysics The Start of the Universe with String Theory Explaining Black Holes with String Theory The Evolution of the Universe The Undiscovered Country: The Future of the Cosmos Exploring a Finely Tuned Universe Chapter 17: Have Time, Will Travel Temporal Mechanics 101: How Time Flies Slowing Time to a Standstill with Relativity General Relativity and Wormholes: Doorways in Space and Time Crossing Cosmic Strings to Allow Time Travel A Two-Timing Science: String Theory Makes More Time Dimensions Possible Sending Messages through Time

9 Part 5: What the Other Guys Say: Criticisms and Alternatives Chapter 18: Taking a Closer Look at the String Theory Controversy The String Wars: Outlining the Arguments Is String Theory Scientific? Turning a Critical Eye on String Theorists Does String Theory Describe Our Universe? A String Theory Rebuttal Trying to Make Sense of the Controversy Chapter 19: Loop Quantum Gravity: String Theory’s Biggest Competitor Taking the Loop: Introducing Another Road to Quantum Gravity Making Predictions with Loop Quantum Gravity Finding Favor and Flaw with Loop Quantum Gravity So Are These Two Theories the Same with Different Names? Chapter 20: Considering Other Ways to Explain the Universe Taking Other Roads to Quantum Gravity Newton and Einstein Don’t Make All the Rules: Modifying the Law of Gravity Rewriting the Math Books and Physics Books at the Same Time Mathematics All the Way Down: Are We Living in a Simulation?

10 Part 6: The Part of Tens Chapter 21: Ten Tests for a Theory of Quantum Gravity Reproduce Gravity Compute Quantum Corrections Describe How Gravity and Matter Interact Explain Inflation Explain What Happens When Someone Enters a Black Hole Explain Whether Singularities Are Allowed Explain the Birth and Death of Black Holes Explain the Holographic Principle Provide Testable Predictions Describe Its Own Limitations

11 Index

12 About the Authors

13 Connect with Dummies

14 End User License Agreement

1 Chapter 8TABLE 8-1: Elementary Particle Families for Fermions

2 Chapter 10TABLE 10-1 Some Superpartner Names

1 Chapter 1FIGURE 1-1: Type I strings can go through five fundamental interactions, based ...FIGURE 1-2: In string theory, strings attach themselves to branes.FIGURE 1-3: Strings wrap around extra dimensions to create particles with diffe...

2 Chapter 2FIGURE 2-1: If you zoom in on space-time enough, you may see a chaotic “quantum...FIGURE 2-2: If supersymmetry is added, the strengths of the forces in the Stand...

3 Chapter 4FIGURE 4-1: The circle has symmetry, but the trapezoid doesn’t.

4 Chapter 5FIGURE 5-1: Waves come in two types: transverse, shown on top, and longitudinal...FIGURE 5-2: When two waves overlap, the total displacement is the sum of the tw...FIGURE 5-3: Examples of standing waves, demonstrating the first three normal mo...FIGURE 5-4: Like repels like, but opposites attract.FIGURE 5-5: A magnet moving toward a metal ring creates a current in the ring.FIGURE 5-6: Positive and negative charges are connected by invisible lines of f...FIGURE 5-7: The north and south poles of a bar magnet are connected by invisibl...FIGURE 5-8: The electric field and magnetic field are in step in an electromagn...

5 Chapter 6FIGURE 6-1: The Michelson-Morley interferometer sends light beams along two dif...FIGURE 6-2: (Top) You see a beam of light go up, bounce off the mirror, and com...FIGURE 6-3: The path a particle takes through space and time creates its worldl...FIGURE 6-4: (Left) Scientists performing experiments in an accelerating spacesh...FIGURE 6-5: Both acceleration and gravity bend a beam of light.FIGURE 6-6: Without matter, space-time is flat (left), but it curves when matte...FIGURE 6-7: Light from distant stars follows the shortest path along curved spa...

6 Chapter 7FIGURE 7-1: The ultraviolet catastrophe occurred when theory and experiment did...FIGURE 7-2: The photoelectric effect occurs when light collides with a metal pl...FIGURE 7-3: In the double slit experiment, light creates bright and dark bands ...FIGURE 7-4: Electrons demonstrate interference in the double slit experiment.FIGURE 7-5: Interference patterns occur when waves pass through both slits.

7 Chapter 8FIGURE 8-1: Cathode ray tubes allow charged particles to be studied in a vacuum...FIGURE 8-2: The Rutherford-Bohr model of the atom has electrons moving in orbit...FIGURE 8-3: A Feynman diagram demonstrates how particles interact with each oth...FIGURE 8-4: (Left) A particle and antiparticle annihilate each other, releasing...FIGURE 8-5: The hierarchy problem in physics relates to the large gap between t...

8 Chapter 9FIGURE 9-1: Three types of universes: closed, open, and flat.FIGURE 9-2: ESA’s Planck satellite image shows an almost perfectly uniform cosm...FIGURE 9-3: A repulsive effect pushes galaxies apart, while the familiar gravit...FIGURE 9-4: The Planck data allows you to compare today’s universe with the dis...FIGURE 9-5: The EHT obtained the first visual image of a black hole in 2019. Th...FIGURE 9-6: Inside a black hole, space-time stretches to an infinite singularit...

9 Chapter 10FIGURE 10-1: Most people think of particles as balls or points. In ...FIGURE 10-2: String theory allows for open and closed strings. Open strings are...FIGURE 10-3: According to string theory, the universe has extra dimensions that...

10 Chapter 11FIGURE 11-1: Open strings attach to the brane at each end. The ends can attach ...

11 Chapter 12FIGURE 12-1: (Left) The interaction of an electron and a positron releases a ph...FIGURE 12-2: (Left) A loop of virtual particles in quantum electrodynamics. (Ri...FIGURE 12-3: Two apparently different string loops that can deform into each ot...FIGURE 12-4: In the string theory landscape, only some possibilities allow life...

12 Chapter 13FIGURE 13-1: Cutting an optical hologram in half is very different than cutting...FIGURE 13-2: The holographic principle says information about a space is contai...FIGURE 13-3: Left: Zooming into a sphere, we see a cap, with positive curvature...FIGURE 13-4: The Poincaré disk is a representation of hyperbolic space. For som...FIGURE 13-5: The woodcut Circle limit IV by M. C. Escher depicts a tiling of th...

13 Chapter 14FIGURE 14-1: When some stars die, they release massive bursts of energy. FIGURE 14-2: Gravity from a cosmic superstring could bend the light from a star...FIGURE 14-3: The Large Hadron Collider is built in a circular tunnel with a 17-...FIGURE 14-4: Two possible descriptions of the tetraquark. Left: Four quarks sit...

14 Chapter 15FIGURE 15-1: In Euclidean geometry, all figures are flat, as if drawn on a shee...FIGURE 15-2: In Cartesian geometry, lines are drawn and analyzed on a grid of c...FIGURE 15-3: It takes three numbers to define a vector (or location) in three d...FIGURE 15-4: A Mobius strip is twisted so it has only one continuous surface.FIGURE 15-5: A Klein bottle has no boundary (edge).FIGURE 15-6: Sometimes the angles of a triangle don’t measure up to 180 degrees...

15 Chapter 16FIGURE 16-1: In this thought experiment, the floor and ceiling want to move awa...

16 Chapter 17FIGURE 17-1: Instead of a worldline (left), a string creates a worldsheet (righ...FIGURE 17-2: Traveling into a wormhole could get you from one location in space...

17 Chapter 19FIGURE 19-1: The spin network evolves over time through local changes.FIGURE 19-2: Braids in the fabric of space may account for the known particles ...