String theory fails a test at LHC.

[Jim__]

Physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider report that after a series of tests, they have not seen any mini black holes, to the chagrin of string theorists and the relief of disaster theorists.

Researchers working on the Compact Muon Solenoid team have been crunching numbers to test a form of string theory that calls for the creation and instant evaporation of miniature black holes. They report that the telltale signs of these black holes are disappointingly absent, however.

String theory is the most widely accepted attempt to unify the two major fields of physics, quantum mechanics and relativity. It holds that electrons and quarks are not objects, but one-dimensional strings whose oscillation gives them their observed qualities. It also says the universe has about a dozen dimensions, rather than the usual four (length, width, height and time).

In one version of string theory, if these dimensions exist, gravitons — hypothetical particles that transmit gravity — would leak into them, explaining why gravity is so much weaker than the other forces, as New Scientist explains it. It’s not really weaker, it just seems weaker, because some of its particles are in another dimension we can’t see. Happily, it takes a lot less energy to test this than it would to actually unify all the forces, and it just so happens it’s is in the energy range that the LHC, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, is capable of testing.


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[Yupster]

1. I have read about string theory in a couple of books now

and it just doesn't seem right to me.

Not that I know anything, but anyway...

[WhiteTara]

7. it's going to be exciting to find what they learn

from their errors! Maybe 20 dimensions! But, I agree, I have always found the string theory to be a bit unbelievable to my rational mind. Of course, I chalk that up to my knowing nothing.

[Towlie]

12. "to the chagrin of string theorists" is a phrase that suggests ignorance of the ways of science.

Usually, when we see articles that imply, and even gloat, that new discoveries cause sadness or depression among some scientists, those articles are written by science-denying religious people who think scientists crave comforting and unchanging universal truths, just as religious people do. The truth is that new discoveries generate cheer and excitement among scientists, often even among those who may see their own work discredited. That's what science is all about.

Maybe the author didn't really mean what she wrote or didn't intend for it to be taken seriously, but it was a poor choice of words and casts suspicion on her credibility as a science writer.

[KaoriMitsubishi]

14. I know the feeling

It strikes me as being - contrived.

[eShirl]

2. K&R for the scientific method in action

[donco]

3. Perhaps they overlooked one

and it will eventually devour us all.

[gtar100]

11. And we will never know.

One moment driving to work on a crowded boulevard. The next, nothing. Just nothing.

Damn those physicists, playing with our lives!

[Recursion]

4. Gravitons and magnetic monopoles

Two things people keep looking for and will never find.

[girl gone mad]

5. Ugh.

Who writes this stuff?

This wasn't a test of string theory. String theory can't be tested because the theory itself makes no testable predictions.

A non-scientist told me that this Penrose talk on the subject was somewhat comprehensible (it's short):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afsd3_PJais&feature=related

[pokerfan]

8. Insert xkcd here

[laconicsax]

10. Always fun. n/t

[somone]

6. "String theory is the most widely accepted attempt"

Widely accepted? Based on zero evidence - after decades of mathematical masturbation?

[Elmore Furth]

9. Fascinating -- thanks for the post K&R

[joshcryer]

13. It's dead, Jim.

Sorry, I couldn't help it.