Fuzziness on the road to physics' grand unification theory

October 07, 2008

Leave it to hypothesized gravity to weigh down what physicists have thought for 30 years. If theoretical physicists, led by the University of Oregon's Stephen Hsu, are right, the idea that nature's forces merge under grand unification has grown fuzzy.

At issue are grand unified theories that first appeared in the 1970s. They have suggested that, at short distances or high-energy scales, electromagnetic forces, strong forces, which bind quarks in protons and neutrons, and weak forces, which drive nuclear decay, will coalesce into a single unified field. Indications of this idea could appear at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Hsu and colleagues applied advanced computations to qualities that might exist in quantum gravity in distance-shortened, high-energy interactions. Working with Hsu on the project, to be described in the journal Physical Review Letters, were UO doctoral student David Reeb and Xavier Calmet, a former postdoc in the UO's Institute of Theoretical Science and now of the Center for Particle Physics and Phenomenology at Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.

"The energy scale at which these three forces become equivalent is probably very high," Hsu said. "We do not have a direct way to probe what happens. We cannot actually produce the energies or produce the particles necessary to directly test whether unification occurs, so we look for hints at lower energy scales -- and look at how the interactions change. We have seen indications that these three interactions are starting to unify. If you extrapolate these trends to very high energy, it looks like, in certain models or theories, they could unify -- all based on experimental data. If grand unification exists, it might be shown at the LHC."

Enter quantum gravity. It's not the physical law version as seen under of Isaac Newton's apple tree but rather a physical theory about gravitational interactions of matter and energy that may be vital to grand unification. This is the realm of space time and its curvature. Hsu's team looked closely at quantum gravity and the interactions of the forces at work using extrapolations built by mathematical magnification.

"It is believed that at short distances and high energies the actual structure of space time will start to exhibit quantum fluctuations," Hsu said. "So there would be fuzziness in the nature of space and time. The scale at which this grand unification might occur is getting kind of close to the scale where quantum gravity might exhibit this kind of fuzziness."

The fuzziness, researchers theorize, blurs the envisioned highway to unification. The blurring, they say, is brought about in the interplay of nature's forces, where, in certain models of unification, there may be thousands of yet-unseen particles at the boundary, affecting the highway itself.

"The interplay of these forces, in our theory, creates more uncertainty than people previously though could exist in this whole discussion," said Reeb, who performed much of the number crunching. "It's an important result, because it is telling people that when you look at the low-energy data and you extrapolate them you may have to be much more careful than was thought."

If grand unification is to be found, the discovery would move particle physicist closer to the proposed idea of supersymmetry, whereby particles at each level have corresponding qualities in another level as they spin. "Our research says there are more uncertainties to this argument than previously believed," Reeb said.

The bottom line, Hsu said, is that as data is generated in the LHC, interpretations as to relationships to grand unification may be more difficult for particle physicists to pin down.

University of Oregon

---

---

	The Bounds of Reason: Game Theory and the Unification of the Behavioral Sciences by Herbert Gintis (Author) Game theory is central to understanding human behavior and relevant to all of the behavioral sciences--from biology and economics, to anthropology and political science. However, as The Bounds of Reason demonstrates, game theory alone cannot fully explain human behavior and should instead complement other key concepts championed by the behavioral disciplines. Herbert Gintis shows that just as game theory without broader social theory is merely technical bravado, so social theory without game theory is a handicapped enterprise. Gintis illustrates, for instance, that game theory lacks explanations for when and how rational agents share beliefs. Rather than construct a social epistemology or reasoning process that reflects the real world, game theorists make unwarranted assumptions which...
	Unification of Art Theories (UAT), =composed, found, changed, modified, altered, graffiti, polyvalent art= Unification of Art Theories (UAT), proposed by the author, considers that every artist should employ - in producing an artwork - ideas, theories, styles, techniques and procedures of making art barrowed from various artists, teachers, schools of art, movements throughout history, but combined with new ones invented, or adopted from any knowledge field (science in special, literature, etc.), by the artist himself. The artist can use a multi-structure and multi-space. The distinction between Eclecticism and Unification of Art Theories is that Eclecticism supposed to select among previous schools and teachers and procedures - while UAT requires not only selecting but also to invent, or adopt from other (non-artistic) fields, new procedures. In this way, UAT pushes forward the art...
	The Theory of Absolutism: A Unification of the Theory of Relativity and Quantum Theory by Christopher Joseph Fleischman (Author) For the last 100 years the science world has been trying to unify the theory of relativity with quantum theory. This book presents a theory that unifies these theories by using a philosophical approach to disclose an oversight in the theory of relativity. This oversight is the realization by way of Christian philosophy that all objects, rules, and acts have the characteristic of singularity. All acts and events are singular relative to God and therefore are singular in nature. Hence, although the coordinates and time of an event, in the theory of relativity, have different values relative to different inertial frames of reference, each event is still singular and thus space, time, and matter are absolute. This book proves that all special and general relativistic effects can be explained...
	The Circular Theory by Integrated Thought Concepts Between any X and Y there is a hidden circle. This turns us all into the same fundamental, oppositional dynamic, also known as 'conflict.' We live in a sea of trillions and trillions of invisible circles, yet all circles are joined by one circle. This is The Circular Theory. Up to this point, we have not noticed, the circle is the most basic unit in physics, mathematics, chemistry and biology, and the basis for observation, reproduction, and movement. It unifies the standard model and string theory in physics, explains the open paradoxes in mathematics, produces a viable explanation for gravity, and supplies a realistic analytical paradigm that anyone can use. In physics, it's called Conservation of the Circle. In reality, 'Everything is circle.' In life, absolute relativity. As...
	Unifying Theories of Programming: First International Symposium, UTP 2006, Walworth Castle, County Durham, UK, February 5-7, 2006, Revised Selected Papers by Springer
	Space, Time, and Spacetime: Physical and Philosophical Implications of Minkowski's Unification of Space and Time (Fundamental Theories of Physics) by Vesselin Petkov (Editor) This volume is dedicated to the centennial anniversary of Minkowski's discovery of spacetime. It contains selected papers by physicists and philosophers on the Nature and Ontology of Spacetime. The first six papers, comprising Part I of the book, provide examples of the impact of Minkowski's spacetime representation of special relativity on the twentieth century physics. Part II also contains six papers which deal with implications of Minkowski's ideas for the philosophy of space and time. The last part is represented by two papers which explore the influence of Minkowski's ideas beyond the philosophy of space and time.
	Fixing American Healthcare: Wonkonians, Gekkonians, and the Grand Unification Theory of Healthcare by Richard (Author), N. Fogoros (Author), Dick Margulis (Editor), dmargulis.com (Editor) Richard N. Fogoros, MD, the popular DrRich of heartdisease.about.com, wants to fix the American healthcare system with your help. In Fixing American Healthcare, you'll learn about: *** Wonkonians, who want to regulate our way out of the mess we're in - and why that cannot work *** Gekkonians, who think the solution to our problems lies in maximizing profits - and why that cannot work *** the Grand Unification Theory of Healthcare and how we can use it to analyze any proposed solution and compare it with all other systems - simply and rationally. IF you care about protecting yourself and your loved ones when you need healthcare. . . IF you want to work toward fixing the American healthcare system so it works for everyone. . . IF you are a healthcare worker, a patient, a politician, an...
	A Proof Theory for General Unification (Progress in Computer Science and Applied Logic (PCS)) by W. Snyder (Author)
	Theory of Information: Fundamentality, Diversity and Unification (World Scientific Series in Information Studies) by Mark Burgin (Author) This unique volume presents a new approach - the general theory of information - to scientific understanding of information phenomena. Based on a thorough analysis of information processes in nature, technology, and society, as well as on the main directions in information theory, this theory synthesizes existing directions into a unified system. The book explains how this theory opens new kinds of possibilities for information technology, information sciences, computer science, knowledge engineering, psychology, linguistics, social sciences, and education.The book also gives a broad introduction to the main mathematically-based directions in information theory. The general theory of information provides a unified context for existing directions in information studies, making it possible...
	European Monetary Unification: Theory, Practice, and Analysis by Barry Eichengreen (Author) The process of European monetary unification (EMU) is approaching a critical juncture. At the beginning of 1998 the member states of the European Union will decide whether or not to go ahead with their monetary union and determine which countries qualify as members. There is a high likelihood that Stage III of the Maastricht process--monetary union itself--will commence on January 1, 1999, and that a single currency, to be known as the Euro, will replace the national currencies of the founding member states at the beginning of 2002. Even if it is delayed, Stage III is likely to go forward soon thereafter.Whether EMU is feasible and desirable is contested among...