THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE: SUPERSTRINGS, HIDDEN DIMENSIONS, AND THE QUEST FOR THE ULTIMATE THEORY

The development of modern particle physics over the last few decades has been truly breathtaking, not only in its rapidity, but also in its scope and depth of understanding.  Each new discovery paradoxically seems to expand our knowledge of the ultimate state of matter and existence while at the same time, overthrowing much of what we had previously thought we understood.  As in perhaps no other field of science, it may truly be said that, with regard to this ongoing conceptual development, the more we think we know about physics, the less in fact we do know.

This fundamental truism has not been lost on most contemporary physicists, young or old.  Leon Lederman,l for example, in his monumental book The God Particle, discussed the “Higgs field”, which he described as an “invisible barrier that keeps us from knowing the truth” about the “ultimate knowledge” of the true state of affairs in the universe.  Brian Greene, a much younger professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, shares Lederman’s awe in the revelatory discoveries of modern scientific discovery.  Greene’s contributions are in the area of the new and extremely complicated (and controversial) field of superstring theory.  The Elegant Universe was his first book (he has since written three more) and it marked his first major contribution toward popular understanding of this exciting area of study.

Superstring theory, or string theory, is a rather esoteric branch of particle physics which attempts to explain gravity in a new way.  One reason the theory is so controversial is that it advances the idea of ten dimensions of space beyond the generally accepted four.  String theorists tell us that these extra six dimensions have not been observed because they are too small to be noticed.

This book is divided into five main sections.  Part one is an introduction entitled The Edge of Knowledge.  Part two is entitledThe Dilemma of Space, Time, and the Quanta.  This section points out the inadequacy of traditional physics due to our limited understanding of the nature of General Relativity and Quantum  Mechanics.  Scientists have long recognized that, in order for one of these foundational principles to be true, the other must be false; they contradict one another.  The third section, The Cosmic Symphony, introduces superstring theory as a solution to the dilemma.  Part four is entitled String Theory and the Fabric of Space-time, while the last section, Unification in the Twenty-first Century deals with the possible ramifications of superstring theory in the new millennium.

This is heady stuff.  Section two, for example, discusses Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, which states that, even at the most microscopic level, there is an immense amount of activity and movement, which become even more pronounced as science reveals smaller and smaller “building blocks” of matter to us.  This activity, Greene argues, has traditionally been the single greatest obstacle in any attempt to unite General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics.

However, Greene feels that superstring theory may provide a way out of the dilemma.  He tells us that the theory opens up an incredibly wide range of possibilities by which we may eventually be able to better understand not only the basic building blocks of matter but, at the macro level, the evolution and patterns of the cosmos.  String theory, in its most basic formulation, holds that “the microscopic landscape is suffused with tiny strings whose vibrational patters orchestrate the evolution of the cosmos” (pg. 135).  According to string theory, these strings are “tiny, one-dimensional filaments somewhat like infinitely thin rubber bands, vibrating to and fro” (pg. 136).  According to Greene and his contemporaries, string theory, if correct, resolves the conflict between General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics.

Contemporary scientists have been searching for the long-elusive “Grand Unifying Theory,” which ties together the many disparate fields of inquiry in modern science.  Superstring theory may in fact be the theory that scientists have been searching for since, according to what its proponents claim, it unites all matter and forces into one simple, irreducible ingredient: Oscillating strings.

What is encouraging in most of the discourse around this very controversial topic is the virtually complete absence of theistic “explanations” for the way nature works at this sub-microscopic level.  There is no room for the “god of the gaps” in Greene’s work , nor in the work of most of his contemporaries; God has less and less to do in the advancement of science.  While the theory was only about fifteen years old at the time this book was written, and immense work must still be done before string theory can take its place as a generally recognized division of contemporary physics, most of its leading theorists seem to have neither the time nor the inclination to look backward at ancient mythological origin stories, or (even more encouraging) to placate the religious with unnecessary nods toward theistic religion.

Scholarly and yet readable, The Elegant Universe serves as a prime introduction to this fascinating field.  For those seeking a better understanding of our universe and what makes it run, it is a most worthwhile read.