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THE FABRIC of the COSMOS, Brian Greene, 2004
```(annotated and with added bold highlights by Epsilon=One)
```(annotated and with added bold highlights by Epsilon=One)
Chapter 13 - The Universe on a Brane
The Second Superstring Revolution
There's an awkward detail regarding string theory that I've yet to divulge, but that readers of my previous book, The Elegant Universe, may recall. Over the last three decades, not one but five distinct versions of string theory have been developed. While their names are not of the essence, they are called Type I, Type IIA, Type IIB, Heterotic-O, and Heterotic-E. All share the essential features introduced in the last chapter — the basic ingredients are strands of vibrating energy — and, as calculations in the 1970s and 1980s revealed, each theory requires six extra space dimensions; but when they are analyzed in detail, significant differences appear. For example, the Type I theory includes the vibrating string loops discussed in the last chapter, so-called closed strings, but unlike the other string theories, it also contains open strings, vibrating string snippets that have two loose ends. Furthermore, calculations show that the list of string vibrational patterns and the way each pattern interacts and influences others differ from one formulation to another.
The most optimistic of string theorists envisioned that these differences would serve to eliminate four of the five versions when detailed comparisons to experimental data could one day be carried out. But, frankly, the mere existence of five different formulations of string theory was a source of quiet discomfort. The dream of unification is one in which scientists are led to a unique theory of the universe. If research established that only one theoretical framework could embrace both quantum mechanics and general relativity, theorists would reach unification nirvana. They would have a strong case for the framework's validity even in the absence of direct experimental verification. After all, a wealth of experimental support for both quantum mechanics and general relativity already exists, and it seems plain as day that the laws governing the universe should be mutually compatible. If a particular theory were the unique, mathematically consistent arch spanning the two experimentally confirmed pillars of twentieth-century physics, that would provide powerful, albeit indirect, evidence for the theory's inevitability.
But the fact that there are five versions of string theory, superficially similar yet distinct in detail, would seem to mean that string theory fails the uniqueness test. Even if the optimists are some day vindicated and only one of the five string theories is confirmed experimentally, we would still be vexed by the nagging question of why there are four other consistent formulations. Would the other four simply be mathematical curiosities? Would they have any significance for the physical world? Might their existence be the tip of a theoretical iceberg in which clever scientists would subsequently show that there are actually five other versions, or six, or seven, or perhaps even an endless number of distinct mathematical variations on a theme of strings?
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, with many physicists hotly pursuing an understanding of one or another of the string theories, the enigma of the five versions was not a problem researchers typically dealt with on a day-to-day basis. Instead, it was one of those quiet questions that everyone assumed would be addressed in the distant future, when the understanding of each individual string theory had become significantly more refined.
But in the spring of 1995, with little warning, these modest hopes were wildly exceeded. Drawing on the work of a number of string theorists (including Chris Hull, Paul Townsend, Ashoke Sen, Michael Duff, John Schwarz, and many others), Edward Witten — who for two decades has been the world's most renowned string theorist — uncovered a hidden unity that tied all five string theories together. Witten showed that rather than being distinct, the five theories are actually just five different ways of mathematically analyzing a single theory. Much as the translations of a book into five different languages might seem, to a monolingual reader, to be five distinct texts, the five string formulations appeared distinct only because Witten had yet to write the dictionary for translating among them. But once revealed, the dictionary provided a convincing demonstration that — like a single master text from which five translations have been made — a single master theory links all five string formulations. The unifying master theory has tentatively been called M-theory, M being a tantalizing placeholder whose meaning — Master? Majestic? Mother? Magic? Mystery? Matrix? — awaits the outcome of a vigorous worldwide research effort now seeking to complete the new vision illuminated by Witten's powerful insight.
This revolutionary discovery was a gratifying leap forward. String theory, Witten demonstrated in one of the field's most prized papers (and in important follow-up work with Petr Horava), is a single theory. No longer did string theorists have to qualify their candidate for the unified theory Einstein sought by adding, with a tinge of embarrassment, that the proposed unified framework lacked unity because it came in five different versions. How fitting, by contrast, for the farthest-reaching proposal for a unified theory to be, itself, the subject of a meta-unification. Through Witten's work, the unity embodied by each individual string theory was extended to the whole string framework.
Figure 13.1 (a): Schematic portrayal of the five string theories, prior to 1995.
(b) Schematic portrayal of the meta-unification revealed by M-theory.
Figure 13.1 sketches the status of the five string theories before and after Witten's discovery, and is a good summary image to keep in mind. It illustrates that M-theory is not a new approach, per se, but that, by clearing the clouds, it promises a more refined and complete formulation of physical law than is provided by any one of the individual string theories. M-theory links together and embraces equally all five string theories by showing that each is part of a grander theoretical synthesis.
The most optimistic of string theorists envisioned that these differences would serve to eliminate four of the five versions when detailed comparisons to experimental data could one day be carried out. But, frankly, the mere existence of five different formulations of string theory was a source of quiet discomfort. The dream of unification is one in which scientists are led to a unique theory of the universe. If research established that only one theoretical framework could embrace both quantum mechanics and general relativity, theorists would reach unification nirvana. They would have a strong case for the framework's validity even in the absence of direct experimental verification. After all, a wealth of experimental support for both quantum mechanics and general relativity already exists, and it seems plain as day that the laws governing the universe should be mutually compatible. If a particular theory were the unique, mathematically consistent arch spanning the two experimentally confirmed pillars of twentieth-century physics, that would provide powerful, albeit indirect, evidence for the theory's inevitability.
But the fact that there are five versions of string theory, superficially similar yet distinct in detail, would seem to mean that string theory fails the uniqueness test. Even if the optimists are some day vindicated and only one of the five string theories is confirmed experimentally, we would still be vexed by the nagging question of why there are four other consistent formulations. Would the other four simply be mathematical curiosities? Would they have any significance for the physical world? Might their existence be the tip of a theoretical iceberg in which clever scientists would subsequently show that there are actually five other versions, or six, or seven, or perhaps even an endless number of distinct mathematical variations on a theme of strings?
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, with many physicists hotly pursuing an understanding of one or another of the string theories, the enigma of the five versions was not a problem researchers typically dealt with on a day-to-day basis. Instead, it was one of those quiet questions that everyone assumed would be addressed in the distant future, when the understanding of each individual string theory had become significantly more refined.
But in the spring of 1995, with little warning, these modest hopes were wildly exceeded. Drawing on the work of a number of string theorists (including Chris Hull, Paul Townsend, Ashoke Sen, Michael Duff, John Schwarz, and many others), Edward Witten — who for two decades has been the world's most renowned string theorist — uncovered a hidden unity that tied all five string theories together. Witten showed that rather than being distinct, the five theories are actually just five different ways of mathematically analyzing a single theory. Much as the translations of a book into five different languages might seem, to a monolingual reader, to be five distinct texts, the five string formulations appeared distinct only because Witten had yet to write the dictionary for translating among them. But once revealed, the dictionary provided a convincing demonstration that — like a single master text from which five translations have been made — a single master theory links all five string formulations. The unifying master theory has tentatively been called M-theory, M being a tantalizing placeholder whose meaning — Master? Majestic? Mother? Magic? Mystery? Matrix? — awaits the outcome of a vigorous worldwide research effort now seeking to complete the new vision illuminated by Witten's powerful insight.
This revolutionary discovery was a gratifying leap forward. String theory, Witten demonstrated in one of the field's most prized papers (and in important follow-up work with Petr Horava), is a single theory. No longer did string theorists have to qualify their candidate for the unified theory Einstein sought by adding, with a tinge of embarrassment, that the proposed unified framework lacked unity because it came in five different versions. How fitting, by contrast, for the farthest-reaching proposal for a unified theory to be, itself, the subject of a meta-unification. Through Witten's work, the unity embodied by each individual string theory was extended to the whole string framework.
Figure 13.1 (a): Schematic portrayal of the five string theories, prior to 1995.
(b) Schematic portrayal of the meta-unification revealed by M-theory.
Figure 13.1 sketches the status of the five string theories before and after Witten's discovery, and is a good summary image to keep in mind. It illustrates that M-theory is not a new approach, per se, but that, by clearing the clouds, it promises a more refined and complete formulation of physical law than is provided by any one of the individual string theories. M-theory links together and embraces equally all five string theories by showing that each is part of a grander theoretical synthesis.