Quantum mechanics is probabilistic it governs the behavior of atomic and subatomic particles. Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity teaches that gravity is the bending of space and time it is deterministic and it describes large-scale phenomena. String theory, says Cremonini, is the best framework yet devised to bridge the two incompatible theories that describe how the universe works. This is the fundamental unit we’ve have been searching for, the fundamental entity that makes up everything.” “Look deep inside any particle and you’ll see this tiny vibrating string. “The idea behind string theory is simple,” says Cremonini. The way in which strings and membranes arrange themselves and interact with each other gives rise to the properties of the subatomic particles we observe. One of these corresponds to the graviton, the particle that is believed to carry the gravitational force. Like guitar strings tuned to produce different frequencies, the vibrations of strings can be associated with the various particles we are familiar with. They can be open-ended, form a closed loop, or attach to membranes, or branes, which could be tiny or could fill the entire universe.
Strings are one-dimension objects, possessing length but not width.
Measuring just 10-34 meters, a string compares in size to a quark as an atom compares in size to the Earth. How did the universe’s first particles interact? How did they form quarks, and how did these combine to form the first protons and neutrons? And what laws govern a black hole’s “gravitational singularity,” a tear in the fabric of spacetime, where density and gravity become infinite?Ĭremonini, an assistant professor of physics, probes these questions through the lens of string theory, which proposes that every particle in the universe is made of tiny vibrating strings of energy. They compress matter so densely that nothing that enters their domain ever escapes, not even light. In a fraction of a second after the Big Bang 14 billion years ago, an immense amount of tightly confined matter exploded into a super-hot sea of subatomic particles.Īnd consider the black holes that form when massive stars collapse. Cleaver's home page.The secrets to some of the universe’s biggest mysteries, Sera Cremonini believes, may well lie in the behavior of its tiniest constituents.Ĭonsider the beginning of the universe. Cleaver is also active in the Early Universe Cosmology and Strings Group of CASPER. Since string theory contains gravity, it provides a means of studying both particle physics and cosmology, and Dr.
#Strings theory unvibrating string free
Cleaver is examining overall properties and phenomenology of the Weak Coupled Free Fermionic Heterotic String parameter space of the Landscape. Cleaver is performing a more global investigation of the “String Landscape,” the collection of all possible string/M-theory models. Gerald Cleaver has been investigating possible (near)-minimal supersymmetric standard models and supersymmetric grand unified models constructed from superstring theories. String theory actually comes in a number of apparently different varieties, which are however related by symmetries suggesting a deeper underlying theory which has been called M-Theory.įor over a decade and half, Dr. Superstring theory provides a mathematically consistent framework for unifying all of the forces, including gravity, into a single quantum theory describing interacting, vibrating strings. While such investigations are well beyond the reach of experiments, they are important for our conceptual understanding of the fabric of the universe, as well as its origin and ultimate fate. Beyond that, gravity remains to be unified with the other forces, in a Theory of Everything at the "Planck scale". Also, there is evidence that all of the forces are unified into a single force at higher energies, described by a Grand Unified Theory (GUT). In particular, there are hints that a new symmetry called "supersymmetry" may play an important role in fundamental physics.
The Standard Model has done an excellent job of explaining all elementary particle interactions discovered so far, but it is widely believed that there is much physics yet to be discovered beyond the Standard Model.