The Weird and Wacky World of Physics: Strings, Calabi-Yau and Massless Blackholes

Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars – mere globs of gas atoms. Nothing is mere. I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them but do I see less or more? The vastness of the heavens stretches my imagination – stuck on this carousel, my little eye can catch one-million-year old light...Or see them with (the stars) with the greater eye of Palomar, rushing all apart from some common starting point when they were perhaps all together. What is the pattern, or the meaning, or the why? It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little about it. For far more marvellous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined! Why do the poets of the present not speak of it?- Richard Feyman

Physics is mind boggling to say the very least. Everything we do always leads back to physics. It’s unavoidable in every action we do yet for many, we choose to “ignore” it and indeed, throw it in the bin, out of our lives metaphorically. Quantum physics was the wonder drug of the 20th century. It cured problems with such insightfulness; phenomena like antimatter, radioactivity, light, time. Yet the universe is stubborn. It unveils its mysteries painfully flow, sure to be the one to surprise us every time. And it is devious! The more we think we know something, the more we realise we don’t.

It’s not every day that someone delves into the fantastical realm of physics. It is such a fundamental subject that the more we think we know it...the more we realise we don’t. More and more questions appear from the few answers we get. While many look at physics with hesitation, apprehensiveness and run from it in fear...believe me, when you understand the basic concepts...it’ll dazzle you, stun you...and leave you in awe.

It’s BAMBOOZLING! Paradoxes, uncertainty, holograms and bonds between us no matter the distance. Objects being able to exist in multiple states and places at the same time. Vacuums being able to have friction. The possibility of parallel universes existing.
It is, indeed, the ultimate treasure hunt for any person.

I hope to make a partwork of threads on Physics, since I think it’s such an important topic with so many chapters to it..like a tree with many branches. I primarily made this thread to turn the weird and wacky language of Physics to a few simple words that all of us can decipher. What I've done is basically outline the surface of these topics I'm discussing below. I’ve added videos to help understand some of the stuff much, more easily since I really, really can’t write. If there’s any mistakes, (since I’m really not a pro on this subject) please do highlight them!

Part 1: Strings, Calabi-Yau and Massless Blackholes
What if everything and anything in the universe could be explained a mere elegant couple of sentences? In the last few decades, physicists have been basking in their glory that this may be possible..and definitely in the last 10 years or so, significant process has been made towards reaching our destination, especially through the Superstring Theory.

Physicists are now aiming to marry quantum mechanics with gravity..which is proving to be a big problem, however we do see the light in the far distance! String theory appears to be our most promising approach for this to occur; to unify all the forces of nature at the same time. It knits together the strands of physics!

Below is an introduction to the wackiness of physics, from one of my idols; Brian Greene. I went to one of his lectures on the 17th of March and let me tell you this; ANYONE, I mean ANYONE (even my mum) can understand the basic principles of physics from this guy. This thread is primarily based upon what he discusses and I aim to go a bit further. You’ll probably learn more from him that in this thread I seriously advise you to watch it, you’ll learn much much more than from me


The Basis of the String Theory
For more than half a century – even in the midst of some of the greatest scientific achievements in history – physicists have been quietly aware of a dark cloud looming on a distant horizon. - Brian Greene

String theory. M theory. Superstring theory. Call it what you wish. The fact is..you either love it or loathe it. For many, it represents our best route to a ‘theory of everything’ while to others it portrays itself as a quasi-religion to a mathematical minefield. The idea that baskets, baked beans, buffalos are all made from these minute little strings can be rather mindblowing...or lame. But there is only one thing you should know. It actually works...so far. The theory is calculating precisely what we are seeing in experiments. Not that it isn’t trouble free. There are loads of problems but what’s physics, if not a challenge?

String theory was initially formulated in the late 1960s to explain certain features of the strong nuclear force. Similar to how words are made up from a small amount of letters; each one having a certain characteristic being their sounds which identify them, these atoms can be seen to be the building blocks of everything that we see and can’t see. The only thing is...they can be even broken down to the true “building blocks” seen in the standard model.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c98459ed10d8.jpg[/atsimg]

And that’s the essence of string theory. That all the above particles are a manifestation of one object; strings.
The tension within the string, the ‘stiffness’ depends what type of property it is. For example, the postulated graviton is thought to have a tension of Planck tension; 1039 tons. This results in the amount of energy the string has, in this case it’s high. Therefore, it tells us that a string’s energy is determined by its vibration. Each string has a minimum energy and are actually whole number multiples of the Planck energy (approximately 1000 kilowatt-hours.) This gives a very large mass...but quantum jitters (consequences of the uncertainty principle) show that they can actually have negative energy and can cancel their energy created by string tensions....so we can get smaller energies or even none.

The way the string vibrates, however, determines what characteristics it’ll have. Similar to violin strings. The thickness determines the sound, while in this case, the way it vibrates determines the particle it will essentially become.
To imagine how small they are...here’s a scale:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/10d61ecb8742.png[/atsimg]

Stings can be either open or closed as shown below. As the caption rightly says, closed strings can combine and split with each other and so can open strings. Open strings also can become closed strings therefore showing that string theory combines gravity with the other 3 fundamental forces; electromagnetic, weak nuclear and strong forces.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ba306b382573.png[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/41af7c7eecf7.jpg[/atsimg]
String theory describes just one type of string...and it’s only interaction is the ability for a loop to pinch into two loop as shown in the image above.

Compared to our old point particle model (zero dimensional points), we now believe that everything in our universe are made from one dimensional strings. Think of a guitar string that has been tuned by stretching the string under tension across the guitar. Depending on how the string is plucked and how much tension is in the string, different musical notes will be created by the string. All strings are identical, the only thing that differentiates it, is its vibration pattern and that gives it all its properties; mass, spin, charge..you name it. Before, we used to believe that in point particles and that they have zero mass. Now we believe that everything that we touch, we drink, we eat is indeed made up of, believe it or not..strings. Physicists always knew that the point particles were wrong. All they did was to “overlook”, even subtract the unwanted mathematical terms associated with infinite energy (when used in calculations). We’ll hopefully get onto this later but the atom constituents (protons, neutrons and electrons) all have measured amounts of spin i.e. angular momentum and magnetic moment. These features can only exist because particles have a finite, non-zero size. And here is, just one problem...on one hand particles are meant to be point like, thereby have zero mass and the other...they’re meant to have finite size.
If anyone want to read more on the problems with point particles, click here

M Theory
However there are five basic versions which hints that string theory isn’t the final ‘grand unification theory.’ Profound mathematical relationships called dualities exist between the different string theories.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/680f91f050b7.png[/atsimg]

Below, very briefly indicate some of the basic characteristics of each theory:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5d3a960ce305.png[/atsimg]
www.superstringtheory.com...

Supersymmetry Principle
Modern Physics has the notion of symmetry at its centre. Most versions of the superstring theory need a theory called supersymmetry. The idea that for every particle of matter there is a corresponding force particle and vice versa stunned the thousands of physicists worldwide. We already know that particles exist which are opposite to each other and their properties i.e. antimatter. We call these supersymmetric particles in general...SPARTICLES! I think it’s a pretty hilarious name.
Supersymmetry is the idea that there are particles which are opposites on ALL KNOWN properties...which should lead us to some new particles. This is just one thing that CERN is looking for by smashing high-energy protons at large speeds.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9b1f722ac37d.jpg[/atsimg]

We’re pretty excited about this principle. It’ll help to explain a few things...e.g. WIMPS (weakly interacting particles) which we think has an important role with dark matter (which is what the majority of the universe contains).

If you want something more advanced, here’s a pretty good start: www.pha.jhu.edu...

Dimensons of Space – The Calabi Yau
The Superstring Theory tells us that there are indeed 11 dimensions 10 space and 1 time. We in fact, observe 4 dimensions; 3 space and 1 time.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/495f111c20d0.jpg[/atsimg]

Look closely my friends. From a far away distance, all you can see is one dimension but as you magnify in...you notice that there is a tiny curled up dimension. The dimension of going clockwise or anticlockwise. That indeed is the 2nd dimension. We believe that universe itself, has more of these tiny dimensions; 7 in fact to make up for the ones we can’t see:

String theorists believe these extra dimensions are folded into imperceptibly small shapes called Calabi-Yau manifolds, named after Eugenio Calabi and Shing-Tung Yau for their work with them..:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/3502f70d38cd.gif[/atsimg]

The equations of string theory indicate that there is a certain class of six dimensional geometrical forms as the possibilities for the shape of curled-up dimensions. It’s thought that a string is “turned” and “twisted” depending on the Calabi-Yau, which then determines what properties it will have e.g. it’s spin, mass, charge etc.

One of the most momentous discoveries of the Calabi-Yau is that it contains holes of various numbers of dimensions which can affect a string’s vibrational pattern. Now, I can’t even BEGIN to imagine this. With each hole in the C.Y, there is a group of low-energy string vibrational patterns. ..which causes the string patterns to fall into families. Now, look back at the standard model...there appears to be 3 distinct families....therefore we believe the Calabi-Yau has three holes, therefore three families of vibrational patterns and this three families of particles that are observed experimentally.

But there’s a MASSIVE problem. There exists somewhere in the neighbourhood of around 10^500 Calabi-Yau manifolds describing the possible shapes of these curled-up dimensions. Some C.Y have as many as 480 holes. Theorists believe that one of these will hold the key to the cosmological constant (which I’ll talk about in another thread..but for now please click here). But, if a C.Y is found with 3 holes...this is vital and probably one of the most powerful validations of string theory.

Branes
I wrote above how strings are one dimensional objects...fact is, physicists have discovered that string theory doesn’t limit itself to one dimensional objects. Strings are in fact..multi-dimensional. These have in fact arised from a value from the above theories; called the coupling constant, when string theory is taken up to 11 dimensions. A coupling constant is a number in string theory that determines the probability of one string splitting into two Physicists are pretty excited about branes because the mass of extended objects of every dimension except for one-dimensional strings is inversely proportional to the value of the associated string coupling constant which are in all of the five theories of M Theory.

One brane – a string
Two brane – a membrane/string extended into 2 dimensions
3 branes – extended into 3 dimensions....and so on.

Branes can encircle strings. A two brane can enwrap and cover a two-dimensional sphere and so on. A guy called Stormringer, helped to show that the effects that could occur if a three dimensional sphere were to collapse, the branes would cancel all those effects out. But what’s so important about them?

Imagine a three brane smeared around a three dimensional sphere...it will trigger a gravitational field that looks like of a black hole. It only becomes obvious when you go into the long, detailed equations of branes. Stormringer showed that the mass of the three-brane (the mass of the black hole) is proportional to the volume of the three dimensional sphere it wraps.
But if the 3-dimensional sphere has collapsed to a point, the corresponding black hole...would be massless. String theory then goes onto to say that massless blackholes transmutes into a massless particle e.g. a photon which is a single string.

This is known as phase transition. Just like you get phases of water; solid, liquid and gas...there are phase transitions from one Calabi-Yau shape to another. Therefore, blackholes are actually just a phase of elementary particles.

So...I hope this BRIEF outline, triggered some interest out there. I have just touched the surface...if anyone would like to know anymore...I'd be more than happy to direct you to a few books to read...the more you delve into this..the more fascinated you'll become I assure you!

Here are just a few things I’d like to leave you with

Here’s a 3 hour video that literally sums it all, by Brian Greene:
www.pbs.org...

And here’s an amazing article written by the Edward Witten:
www.sns.ias.edu...
~BP94

Nice one BP... Superb Thread! Very interesting! I'm surprised there aren't more comments so far!

IRM

Hey BP, awesome thread again

Don't forget to mention ATS and the chatters when you win your first nobel.

Great thread S&F! I managed to get about half way before my brain started to melt lol. Ill have to come back and finish it off later. I don't suppose there's a "look look, see see" or a pop up book version

I'd also like to include this link, that W1LL so kindly showed me.
It brings my other thread on the Flower of Life into this.



It's amazing!

reply to post by QBSneak000


Unfortunately not lol...I could make one just for you

As I've said...this is just a mere brush onto the can containing the physics. I haven't even opened it yet.
But seriously, there's this guy..I can't remember his name something Russell and he narrows it down very simply.
I'll try to find him for you!

Originally posted by BlackPoison94
I'd also like to include this link, that W1LL so kindly showed me.
It brings my other thread on the Flower of Life into this.

It's amazing!

your Very welcome

thanks for this thread physics is a hard subjed to understand, you put things into perspective nicely so that even the beginner can read your OP a couple times and begin to understand!! GREAT job!

yes this was an awesome post! S F from me. I luv to read of this sort of information, Sadly I do not have the math skills to grasp the real detail of the theories, but I can understand the concept and it blows me away. Wonderful thread! thank you!

A nice big fat S & F for you!

I'll use this thread as a reference starting point in the future.

BOOKMARKED!

reply to post by BlackPoison94


How about the Einsten-Rosen bridge and time travel?

Quote from : Wikipedia : Wormhole

In physics, a wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that would be, fundamentally, a "shortcut" through spacetime.

For a simple visual explanation of a wormhole, consider spacetime visualized as a two-dimensional (2D) surface.

If this surface is folded along a third dimension, it allows one to picture a wormhole "bridge".

(Please note, though, that this is merely a visualization displayed to convey an essentially unvisualisable structure existing in 4 or more dimensions.

The parts of the wormhole could be higher-dimensional analogues for the parts of the curved 2D surface; for example, instead of mouths which are circular holes in a 2D plane, a real wormhole's mouths could be spheres in 3D space.)

A wormhole is, in theory, much like a tunnel with two ends each in separate points in spacetime.

I've always seen them as a viable project with enough energy for consupmtion.

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas


Hold your horses!
That's part 2. Phftttttttt.

Originally posted by BlackPoison94
reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas

 

Hold your horses!
That's part 2. Phftttttttt.

Okay silly woman.

Question for you.

Do you think Deja Vu is a form of a human wormhole?

Like a timeloop for a person due to P.T.S.D. and or trauma?

Not to mention Kazcynski was a part of MK-Ultra and was alleged to have Remote Viewed.

Right into the future.

Okay silly woman.

Question for you.

Do you think Deja Vu is a form of a human wormhole?

Like a timeloop for a person due to P.T.S.D. and or trauma?

Not to mention Kazcynski was a part of MK-Ultra and was alleged to have Remote Viewed.

Right into the future.

Can't you just wait for the next thread?
Truth is, I have no clue.

Spirtually..if we're talking about here, it would make sense..I mean wormholes..if they do indeed exist, they would fit snugly with this.
Hmmm...that is a very very very good question, I'm going to have to think much more about this for me to come to a conclusion

reply to post by BlackPoison94


Wait?

Not really.

Part 2 now, part 2 now, part 2 now!

Physics of the Impossible


I'm teasing and I am patient just like waiting for you to get to the United Nations.

If anyone wants to read more into the String Theory...Brian Greene's 'The Elegant Universe' is the best place to start.

Is there a theory to explain what happens when a brane melts? Cuz mine just did.

Wow, nice thread!! I can't personally understand every aspect, such as the math, but I
think I get the general idea. I find this all very interesting and must research this some more. It's hard to understand how some can grasp all the math and aspects of what this involves. Mad kudos!

I'm starting the think that the supertheory of supereverything (ie unification theory) has some roots in the "holographic universe" model. Once you delve into it, it's not all that sci-fi at all. Plus it's emulated on smaller scales all throughout the universe. I just want to bring it up because I feel I've graduated from M theory to this one finally but have yet to stick both feet in. Still reading a lot on it before I sell out to something that turns out more ridiculous than I thought.

edit ps - Thanks for the well thought out thread. Very helpful.

Great post. I know little about the world of physics as my specialty is geology and history so I look forward to some of your future posts..maybe there will be something we can debate sometime