The Theory of Everything (string theory)

[Ben Niehoff]

Don't we have a Marcus version of Superstrings guys here who can give us summaries or updates of say the Six Themes for Superstrings in 2015 (developments to watch for)? All the papers or updates shared in this focum is about Loop Quantum Gravity. They don't unify anything except quantizing spacetime and GR doesn't even come out yet as low energy limit. Superstrings is still more interesting. What's latest with Witten?

I work on string theory but I'm way, way too busy to spend time here distilling it for lay readers. But you're welcome to check hep-th on arXiv every day if you think it's important to keep up with what's being done.

 

[Edward Wij]

Thanks. I'm starting to read the book String Theories for Dummies. For any laymen here. This would be a great thing to spend the weekend with. An interesting bit inside is how LQG and Strings theory may be two sides of a more fundamental theory. Quoting it:

" One viewpoint is that both string theory and loop quantum gravity may actually represent the same theory approached from different directions. The parallels between the theories are numerous:

* String theory began as a theory of particle interactions but was shown to contain gravity. Loop quantum gravity began as a theory of gravity, but was shown to contain particles.
* In string theory, space-time can be viewed as a mesh of interacting strings and branes, much like the threads of a fabric. In loop quantum gravity, threads of space are woven together, creating the apparently "smooth" fabric of space-time.
* Some string theories believes the compactified dimensions represent a fundamental quantum unit of space, while LQG starts with units of space as an initial requirement.
* Both theories (provided certain assumptions are made) calculate the same entropy for black holes."

what else.. if you come across papers or more references on a more fundamental theory underlying the two, let me know. Thanks.