Editor: Moataz H. Emam

Are We There Yet? The Search for a Theory of Everything

eBook: US $21 Special Offer (PDF + Printed Copy): US $93
Printed Copy: US $83
Library License: US $84
ISBN: 978-1-60805-650-7 (Print)
ISBN: 978-1-60805-214-1 (Online)
Year of Publication: 2011
DOI: 10.2174/97816080521411110101

Introduction

We live in exciting times. The frontiers of physics have been pushed to unprecedented horizons. The Holy Grail of fundamental physics research today is to find and describe a theory that explains, at least in principle, all physical phenomena, which in turns explains chemistry, biology and other material sciences. This, however, is not without controversy. Currently, the most popular candidate for such a theory is known as string or superstring theory. It suffers from the problem of being a purely mathematical science with no experimental backing, and belief in it has been criticized as bordering on “faith” as opposed to scientific scrutiny. On the other hand the recent switching-on of our most advanced experimental tool, the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, gives new hope in our search for clues as to what the universe is made of on a fundamental level. What happened exactly on, or even before, the Big Bang? Where are we coming from and where are we going? Questions that have never been addressed before by physicists. The game is afoot and the search is on. This book contains articles by leading physicists describing the current situation. Among them are proponents as well as opponents of string theory, and proponents of other ideas such as Loop quantum gravity, commutative geometry, and others.

Foreword

- Pp. i-ii (2)
John F. Donoghue
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Preface

- Pp. iii-iv (2)
Moataz H. Emam
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List of Contributors In Order of Appearance

- Pp. v
Moataz H. Emam, John F. Donoghue
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The Fire in the Equations

- Pp. 1-36 (36)
Tasneem Zehra Husain
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String Theory and the Failure of Unification

- Pp. 37-41 (5)
Peter Woit
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Can String Theory Survive Complete Falsification?

- Pp. 42-47 (6)
Moataz H. Emam
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String Theory in the Classroom. A Case Study

- Pp. 48-51 (4)
D.H.J. Cho
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Science Fiction of Everything

- Pp. 52-78 (27)
Florian Conrady
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A Vision of Quantum Gravity

- Pp. 79-93 (15)
Tim A. Koslowski
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Does History Repeat Itself in a Non-Cyclic Universe?

- Pp. 94-100 (7)
Sundance Bilson-Thompson
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Shooting in the Dark

- Pp. 101-105 (5)
Sabine Hossenfelder
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Deciphering Quantum Theory

- Pp. 106-115 (10)
P. Goyal
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Index

- Pp. 116-121 (6)
Moataz H. Emam
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