Current state of string theory

[jgens]

Can anyone point me in the direction of a paper, website, etc. which essentially discusses the current state of theory - I think its defunct; however, my ToK instructor wants some evidence of it - or any predictions, if any, the theory made?

Suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[humanino]

It will be difficult for your ToK to have anything to say about that, except repeating what he read written by somebody else. Not only should your instructor have understood correctly what was written, but this other writing person should have been well informed as well. Eventually, you are relying on a long chain, which I expect anything but intellectually robust.

The best is to study the theory by yourself seriously if you want to have anything to say about it. Until then, you may want not to claim "your theory is defunct" to a group of professionals. They are probably very well informed themselves of the limitations of the theory

This being said, here is an entry point (for instance)
The Nature and Status of String Theory
A dialog on quantum gravity
How far are we from the quantum theory of gravity?
Motl on the same topic

Maybe somebody else will have a more recent appropriate reference.

 

[jgens]

Thanks, for your response.

Well, I suppose I should have been more clear: First, my ToK (Theory of Knowledge) instructor is not well versed in the sciences and makes no claims regarding the theory. Aside from books written by Greene several years ago, neither I nor my instructor are familiar with the current standing of the theory or any predictions it may or may not make. Also, this is a high school environment. :)

I personally do not make any absolute assertions regarding the theory, I only think it's defunct and I certainly am not an authoritative or even near slightly knowledgeable source. If the theory is not defunct, a web-site or paper written by a reputable scientist claiming this would suffice (though it must be recent).

Again, thanks for your response and I'm sorry that I was not clear enough.

 

[atyy]

The last section of this paper has a qualitative discussion of the present status of string theory:
Physics of String Flux Compactifications
Frederik Denef, Michael R. Douglas, Shamit Kachru
http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0701050

 

[jgens]

Thanks, I haven't really read through the paper yet but it looks like something that might suffice for the purposes of ToK.

Humanino, having re-read my previous post I would like to appologize. I think it may be interpretted as rude which was certainly not my intent.

 

[atyy]

Maybe also useful is a public lecture by David Gross in which he starts talking about the achievements and failures string theory around 1:05

 

[p-brane]

Can anyone point me in the direction of a paper, website, etc. which essentially discusses the current state of theory - I think its defunct; however, my ToK instructor wants some evidence of it - or any predictions, if any, the theory made?

Suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks.

Uhm, string theory completely dominates research in quantum gravity and high energy theory as it has done for the last 25 years and will continue to do into the forseable future.

 

[daschaich]

Can anyone point me in the direction of a paper, website, etc. which essentially discusses the current state of theory...

Well, what immediately popped into my mind was

John H. Schwarz
"Status of Superstring and M-Theory"
22 December 2008
http://arxiv.org/abs/0812.1372v2

Abstract: The first lecture gives a colloquium-level overview of string theory and M-theory. The second lecture surveys various attempts to construct a viable model of particle physics. A recently proposed approach, based on F-theory, is emphasized.

Doesn't get much more recent than that!

That paper's in my "to read" pile, so I don't have the best idea of the level of knowledge it assumes of the reader. It's a write-up of a couple of Erice lectures, probably targeted towards grad students, but skimming through it there seems to be enough qualitative discussion that dedicated laymen could get something out of it.