![]() This machine will be able to get to the high energy collisions that are needed to create high-mass particles, which, according to string theory, are just higher vibrations off of the “lowest vibration modes of a string,” or as is known in the common vernacular: protons, electrons, and neutrons. Specifically, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the Switzerland-France border. With this view of the universe, scientists will be able to see if string theory is right (33).Īnother avenue to look into for evidence for string theory will be in particle accelerators. WMAP can only see 300,000 years post-Big Bang. If it works correctly, LISA will be able to see gravity waves from within one trillionth of a second post-Big Bang. ![]() The part that will be interesting to string theorists is that LISA will be like WMAP, peering into the early universe. The deflections will hypothetically be caused by the ripples of gravity as they travel through space-time. The observatory will be so sensitive that it will be able to detect deflections up to a billionth of an inch. These lasers will be able to tell if anything has caused the beams to sway off course. It will be three satellites arranged in a triangle formation, with lasers being beamed back and forth between them. Another detector that has yet to launch is LISA or the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. In 2002, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory went online, but by the time it was terminated in 2010 it had not found evidence of gravity waves. Helen Russell said in a NASA statement.Several gravity-wave detectors have been in the works. “These constraints dig into the range of properties suggested by string theory, and may help string theorists weed their theories,” coauthor Dr. If real observation doesn’t reveal the right glue, that helps scientists continue to develop their theories. It’s hard to believe there’s no unifying theory out there to be found, and intuitively we feel like the world is operating by some consistent idea.īut to formulate concrete suggestions and theories has required a great deal of calculation and position of these theoretical pieces that glue each theory together. ![]() String theory offers a way to harmonize all of physics together, something that was easier before scientists began to turn their minds toward outer space, posit the existence of bosons and other wildly tiny subatomic particles, and theorize about dark matter. Two Black Holes Are Merging in a Distant Galaxy.Where String Theory and Number Theory Meet. ![]() This study is four times finer and 100 more powerful than previous observations could be. Now, they say, the options are more like Goldilocks: the axion-like particles are smaller than we thought, much larger than we thought (and therefore out of Chandra’s gauged range this time), or they’re just not there at all. If physicists are basically panning the universe for gold in the form of axion-like particles, they’ve gotten down to a strainer small enough to snag a billionth of an electron and still not found the gold. There's no way around it: The lack of evidence in this experiment is disappointing. The tiny particles cause distortions that can be detected by the x-rays. At the heart of the Perseus cluster is a giant black hole, and it’s this flow and pull, into the black hole from the rest of the cluster, where Chandra used a full spectrum of x-ray signals to search for axions and axion-like particles. Galaxy clusters are gigantic-so large that they’re the biggest single body of things that gravity can still hold together. Axions are one thing, but more variable and convertible axion-like particles are the key item in this experiment. For five days, the Chandra X-ray Observatory combed the Perseus galaxy cluster for evidence of extremely low-mass particles including axions and axion-like particles. Rather than damning for any particular form of string theory, the researchers say this was really a special opportunity to test these theories firsthand. It’s difficult to prove something’s absence from the universe, but in the Perseus galaxy cluster, scientists found no signs of a type of boson called an “axion-like particle” they say is integral to some kinds of string theory.
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