25 December, 2014

Why String Theory Still Offers Hope We Can Unify Physics | Science | Smithsonian

Why String Theory Still Offers Hope We Can Unify Physics | Science | Smithsonian:







Many researchers have pinned their hopes on finding a
new class of so-called “supersymmetric” particles that emerge from
string theory’s highly ordered mathematical equations. Other collider
signals could show hints of extra-spatial dimensions, or even evidence
of microscopic black holes, a possibility that arises from string
theory’s exotic treatment of gravity on tiny distance scales.

While none of these predictions can properly be called
a smoking gun—various non-stringy theories have incorporated them too—a
positive identification would be on par with the discovery of the Higgs
particle, and would, to put it mildly, set the world of physics on
fire. The scales would tilt toward string theory.

But what happens in the event—likely, according to some—that the collider yields no remotely stringy signatures?