hey boys i was watching a video the other day about string theory and the guy presenting said that space and time dont function properly at the subatomic level.. for instance there is not left and right , no up and down, no forward and backward, no before and after , not here and there..
is this correct?
thanks in advance :D
vanesch
Oct10-08, 07:17 AM
hey boys i was watching a video the other day about string theory and the guy presenting said that space and time dont function properly at the subatomic level.. for instance there is not left and right , no up and down, no forward and backward, no before and after , not here and there..
Consider that string theory and so on are up this point entirely speculative theories, or conceptual frames to develop theories, which don't have yet any connection with observable reality - but could one day turn out to make correct predictions - or could turn out to be entirely misguided.
What is true is that we know that our currently experimentally validated theories are prone to run into conflict at scales which are for the moment still beyond experimental access. So most probably "something will have to give in". And it is the theorist's job to think of ways in which it could give in, and string theory is one of these possibilities.
"subatomic" on this level is really really much smaller than what is usually called "subatomic".
Up to the Tevatron energies, in any case, space and time still behave as Einstein had foreseen more than 100 years ago. Whether the LHC will start hinting at deviations is to be seen.
ZapperZ
Oct10-08, 07:17 AM
hey boys i was watching a video the other day about string theory and the guy presenting said that space and time dont function properly at the subatomic level.. for instance there is not left and right , no up and down, no forward and backward, no before and after , not here and there..
where did you hear something like that? What "video" is this?
If this is true, then the CPT symmetry that is so fundamental, and the "broken symmetry" in elementary particles that just got awarded with this year's Nobel Prize would be completely meaningless.
Zz.
Mad1kas
Oct10-08, 07:33 AM
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html
its the first video in the second column
did i get it right?
is that what he means? :S
vanesch, i think you mean that it hasnt been proofed yet?