Theory of Everything
spaces which is commonly used in string theory, and CFT, referring to conformal field theory, which is a form of quantum field theory, are united in this paper further giving credibility to M theory.
Nevertheless, there are several shortcomings to this theory. Firstly, in order for M theory to predict the particles we observe, the extra dimensions must be intertwined in specific ways which leads to the question as to why that particular arrangement is adopted by the universe as opposed to the other arrangements. Moreover, due to M theory still being a mathematical conception, there is no experimental evidence to suggest its accuracy. This is a real issue, as the conception of string theory itself revolves around a series of inductive leaps such as the reimagination of particles as strings and the forceful introduction of new dimensions without proof. This is further exemplified by the prediction of supersymmetry 11 which suggests that every fermion has a bosonic counterpart with a spin that differs by a half and, as of yet, these particles have been observed despite the decades of attempts to find them in particle accelerators. Moreover, in order to be a theory of everything, the final iteration of string theory must be fully described using only the fundamental facts of nature which is highly unlikely as it is built upon the teachings of QFT which is a highly approximated and parametrized theory. Despite the promise of solving quantum gravity in loop quantum gravity and M theory’s candidacy for a theory of everything, some suggest that a theory of everything may not even exist. Gödel ’s incompleteness theorem 12 suggests that there are no fixed number of fundamental axioms in mathematics and therefore, extending it to physics, argued that there are no finite number of fundamental truths that can describe the universe in its entirety. Therefore, it is plausible that, even with the completion of a theory of quantum gravity, we are no closer to finding a theory of everything, simply because it doesn’t exist. Ultimately, although quantum mechanics and general relativity seem irreconcilable due to fundamental differences, there are many theories of quantum gravity which appear to be promising. However, owing to the lack of evidence despite the many years of searching, it is highly unlikely that we will be able to develop a theory of everything in the foreseeable future: even if such a theory is conceptualized, there will be no way to verify it due to our current technological inadequacy and we are even unsure as to whether it can even exist.
Bibliography
AdS/CFT correspondence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdS/CFT_correspondence. Consulted: 07/08/21 Einstein Field Equations (General Relativity) (2019) University of Warwick. https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/intranet/pendulum/generalrelativity/.Consulted: 06/08/21 Gö del’s incompleteness theorems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del%27s_incompleteness_theorems. Consulted: 07/08/21
11 See Supersymmetry (2021) . 12 See Gö del’s incompleteness theorems.
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