String theory: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:32, 6 January 2025

Revision as of 15:38, 7 January 2025

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{{String theory}}

In [[physics]], '''string theory''' is a [[Mathematical theory|theoretical framework]] in which the [[Point particle|point-like particles]] of [[particle physics]] are replaced by [[Dimension (mathematics and physics)|one-dimensional]] objects called [[String (physics)|strings]]. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interact with each other. On distance scales larger than the string scale, a string looks justacts like an ordinarya particle, with its [[mass]], [[charge (physics)|charge]], and other properties determined by the [[vibration]]al state of the string. In string theory, one of the many vibrational states of the string corresponds to the [[graviton]], a [[quantum mechanics|quantum mechanical]] particle that carries the [[gravity|gravitational force]]. Thus, string theory is a theory of [[quantum gravity]].

String theory is a broad and varied subject that attempts to address a number of deep questions of [[fundamental physics]]. String theory has contributed a number of advances to [[mathematical physics]], which have been applied to a variety of problems in [[black hole]] physics, early universe [[Physical cosmology|cosmology]], [[nuclear physics]], and [[condensed matter physics]], and it has stimulated a number of major developments in [[pure mathematics]]. Because string theory potentially provides a unified description of gravity and particle physics, it is a candidate for a [[theory of everything]], a self-contained [[mathematical model]] that describes all [[Fundamental interaction|fundamental force]]s and forms of [[matter]]. Despite much work on these problems, it is not known to what extent string theory describes the real world or how much freedom the theory allows in the choice of its details.