- The standard model is valid precisely. The known physics equations are correct. Nothing is left to discover!
- There are three gauge interactions, three dimensions and three generations. Nothing is left to discover!
- The cosmological constant gets smaller with time.
- Certain mass ratios (W/Z, W/Higgs) and sequences of values among masses, coupling constants and mixing angles can be deduced.
What I like most: the spaghetti theory predicts that additional predictions are impossible. I passionately like the idea that we are near the end of particle physics. So many pompous machos repeat that nature is infinite and complicated. And they go on repeating that everybody else is stupid or wrong, in church and in the internet. Machos, stop doing physics. Go into your wife's arms.
Clara,
ReplyDeleteI agree, it does look promising (although I certainly don't claim to be qualified to judge).
Christoph Schiller says that it doesn't predict anything new, and I think that he says that because it predicts the symmetries of the existing Standard Model but no others, and it predicts the existing elementary particles but no new ones, and it predicts Einstein's gravity because it follows from the maximum force limit, which is somehow laid down by tangling and untangling being the only observable.
What I was wondering is whether the Strand Model could predict something new, only the bit that does the predicting would be entirely new -- not the Standard Model part, not the General Relativity part -- and could be so contrary to our expectations that it would be very easy to miss altogether.
It could be something really hard to believe, even harder to accept than time running at different rates in different places and particles not actually having the properties they are measured to have until the act of measurement. That could make it super-easy to overlook because you just wouldn't expect to see something so bonkers crazy.
What do you think? Could anything be hiding in the Strand Model?
Anonymous, a prediction can be wrong or right. To me it seems right. Consequence: nothing special will be found.
ReplyDeleteWell, yes, but at first Christoph Schiller didn't predict the Higgs boson, but then later he realized he had made a bit of a mistake in his argument. What if he managed to miss something else too -- just because he didn't expect to see it? (Because nobody in their right mind would expect to see it.)
ReplyDeleteYou know how it goes: you miss something, then when you see it, you slap yourself on the forehead and ask 'How the hell did I miss that?'.
Is there still room for something like that, do you think?
Hello Clara,
ReplyDeleteI've just been reading Motion Mountain vol.6 again -- about how gravity comes from Strands. While I was reading, I was also wondering where something new could come from. I suddenly had a daft idea: what would happen if a strand snapped?
Well it wouldn't be observable (because only crossing switches are observable). But those loose ends could whip around and get all tangled up, or they could whip around and untangle all the tangles already on them. If they did that, mass could just vanish.
If a strand could snap, where and when would it snap? Could we look there to see if mass really did just vanish? Absolutely nobody would expect that. Mass-energy is supposed to be conserved. Always, always, always!
Maybe trying to imagine what would happen if a strand snapped is just abusing the model. I don't know. Any thoughts?