Orson Welles Great Mysteries

Theory of everything: how progress in physics depends on asking the right questions

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Monday, May 15, 2023
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Is it helpful in guiding scientists towards the discoveries that will advance our understanding to the next level?

Key Points: 
  • Is it helpful in guiding scientists towards the discoveries that will advance our understanding to the next level?
  • After all, good science relies on asking good questions.
  • Arguably, the question “What is the theory of everything?” reminds us that good science doesn’t have to start with the best questions.
  • We take turns, and the more we play, the quicker we seem to figure out which card has been chosen.
  • The same is true of asking “What is the theory of everything?”: the goodness of a scientific question is not immutable.

Why a ‘theory of everything’?

    • The model, which is written in a mathematical language called quantum field theory, describes how elementary particles move around and interact with one another.
    • It explains why fundamental particles known as the W and Z bosons, which transmit the weak force, acquire a mass.
    • The Higgs mechanism also explains why, at higher energies, these two forces start to behave as a single “electroweak” force.
    • Now, if electromagnetism and the weak force combine in this way, why not all the forces in the Standard Model?
    • The “theory” refers to the existence of some common mathematical framework that describes all of the “everything”.

Better questions

    • They were motivated by better questions about what a theory of all the fundamental forces needs to explain and what it might look like, questions like: Why is there a huge discrepancy between the energy scales of the Standard Model and quantum gravity?
    • Instead, these new questions have been reached by building on what has been learnt from developing and studying possible “Theories of Everything”, like string theory.
    • And these new questions are good questions.
    • The exciting thing is that they still may not be the best questions, and having them to guide us doesn’t necessarily mean that we know where we will end up.

Great Mysteries of Physics: do we really need a theory of everything?

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Wednesday, April 12, 2023
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While each of its main theories works extraordinarily well, they clash also with each other – leaving physicists to search for a deeper, more fundamental theory.

Key Points: 
  • While each of its main theories works extraordinarily well, they clash also with each other – leaving physicists to search for a deeper, more fundamental theory.
  • But do we really need a theory of everything?
  • Our two best theories of nature are quantum mechanics and general relativity, describing the smallest and biggest scales of the universe, respectively.
  • If it could, it would indicate that quantum theory might ultimately be more fundamental than general relativity, accounting for four out of five forces – suggesting general relativity ultimately may need to be modified.
  • If it couldn’t, that would shake up physics – suggesting we may need to modify quantum mechanics, too.

What about other mysterious properties?

    • And what about other mysterious properties such as dark energy, which causes the universe to expand at an accelerated rate, or dark matter, an invisible substance making up most of the matter in the universe?
    • “Dark matter and dark energy are most of the matter energy content in the universe.
    • So it’s not really a theory of everything if it’s not accounting for most of the matter energy content in the universe,” she argues.
    • “One of the strengths that people will point to with string theory is that string theory built on quantum field theory,” explains Prescod-Weinstein.