A theory of Everything?

It is breathtaking to witness the natural wonders of nature and the marvels of the modern world: skyscrapers, suspension bridges, complex transportation systems, and so on. Such magnificent human creations portray their ever increasing achievements brought about by the advances in science and technology. In 2009 for instance, the scientific community announced the completion of the long-awaited Large Hadron Collider or LHC near Geneva, Switzerland. Headed by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), LHC is one of the most expensive and sophisticated scientific laboratory ever built. Termed as “The Ten Billion Dollar Experiment,” this mammoth machine is yet another ambitious scientific instrument on the frontier added to new wonders of science and engineering. Now that it is operational, physicists and scientists alike are still rushing in work at LHC. But what is so special about it?

The Large Hadron Collider is an “atom smasher.” It works by accelerating powerful beams of charged particles of matter near the speed of light in energies like that found only in the core of the stars, and making these particles collide in a very precise manner. In doing so, scientists hope to recreate the very moment that exploded everything into existence or gave birth to space and time itself: the Big Bang. LHC simply holds the key in uncovering the greatest secrets of the universe by peering deeper and deeper into the interior of atoms so that scientists could find such elusive particles and study their interactions. The sought-after entities are called fundamental particles which have no further substructure and hence considered the basic building blocks of matter and energy. Their method is nothing less than extrapolating backwards to the immensely distant past and in the process, they could therefore answer the puzzling questions humans have posed ever since. What is the world made of? How did the universe begin? What is the ultimate future of the universe?

Physicist believe that in order to understand how the universe works, the said little pieces, which constitute most if not all things in the universe need to be basically understood at its fundamental level. This is the essence of “reductionism,” as the Nobel laureate Leon Lederman put it. The triumph of reductionism has been apparent in many ways. In chemistry, for example, all the key chemical laws are based upon quantum mechanics, which deals with behavior of atoms and its substructures. In biology, the mechanism of heredity that propels biological evolution is now understood in terms of the very small.

The teams of scientists at LHC also make a way to test current theories in physics. The most promising has been the continuous search of scholars for explanation for every phenomenon in the universe. However, it is known that the two most successful theories in Physics we have, namely, (1) Quantum mechanics or the science of the very small and (2) General Relativity or the science of the very large, have different mathematics, assumptions and physical pictures. But when their basic physical laws are unified, it would then fulfill a grand encompassing theory that would merge mankind’s understanding of these once conflicting worlds. This leads to what they call the theory of everything—the holy grail of physics.

Imagine one can find an explanation for everything: from the infinitesimal world of subatomic particles to the world of distant stars, constellations, galaxies and the universe as a whole. The theoreticians’ goal is to come up with an equation, perhaps no more than an inch long but is so powerful that it can explain literally everything in the universe. This is the dream which has captivated brilliant scientists since Albert Einstein. Surprisingly, physicists think they might have found it already.

The leading and only candidate for theory is known as the Superstring Theory. Although this is not yet testable using LHC or any advanced laboratories in the world, it holds the reputation to be hailed as one of the greatest intellectual achievement in the history of Science. The theory is breathtaking but it comes with profound consequences. It posits that the universe where we live in is NOT only one. From every solution found in superstring theory, it pointed out that there are other universes out there lurking in hidden dimensions beyond humans senses. But the irony is some physicists still believe that it is impossible to formulate a valid theory of everything. No matter how much journals, scientific papers and TV documentaries feature the seeming success of the theory, it must produce a single testable fact in order to prove it; because if it can’t do so, it is Philosophy and certainly not Science. Superstring theory is then a theory of nothing rather a theory of everything. It is nothing more but flights of the imagination like the whimsical and fancy ideas of time travel and perpetual motion machine in science fiction. Because the goal was so lofty, the name itself simply challenges conventional wisdom.

The very idea of other universes existing in higher dimensions–that is, beyond the concept of up and down, right and left, and forward and backward–is impossible. Even mathematicians had proven that like the corners of a room, extra dimensions were impossible because the three was all. To put it in another way, all Sciences may have helped humanity to understand truths in the far edges of the world but it will always have limitations. As Socrates said, “it seems to me a superlative thing to know the explanation of everything: why it comes to be, why it perishes, why it is?”

However, physicists are naturally predisposed to be optimists. It is apparent that the theory defines nature as absurd and thus the theory, at its heart, defies common sense. But it should be remembered that common sense is deeply anchored to limited human experiences. Limited experiences in turn do not reveal all the known truth there is. Moreover, the concept of attaining the impossible, according to a famous theoretical physicist, Michio Kaku, is relative.

Just a century ago, for example, radio, x-ray, atomic bomb, the internet, and even television were impossible things at that time. But as science progressed, more are being discovered and understood by man. From a practical standpoint, physics and all other fundamental sciences undoubtedly have provided the basis for huge new industries that have contributed to the wealth of nations and vastly improved the quality of human life. This is because of the wonderful idea that the universe as a whole, is considered to be coherent and elegant and not otherwise. Nature turned out to be determinate such that every physical phenomenon could be reduced into handful mathematical symbols. Take the famous Newton’s laws as an example. These simple laws written in high school mathematics gave man the understanding and later the power to send man to the moon and projectiles in the distant regions of the solar system. Nature has revealed to us her ultimate simplicity, at the fundamental level, that can be understood and harnessed by us.

Parallel to the concept of theory of everything, the idea may be outlandish and perhaps it sounds so uncomfortable to believe. Nonetheless the conclusions of superstring theory could be true. It is believed that humankind has the unique capability among other creatures on Earth that they can comprehend this seemingly esoteric world exemplified in the theory. Since Superstring theory does not violate any known laws of physics, such ideas may become realities perhaps in the next century or so. Depending on the scale of such extra dimensions, it may be possible for the next generation of particle accelerators to reveal the presence of these structures. Within a few years, new data from the Large Hadron Collider and other proposed accelerators will help man decide whether this intriguing theory does really have merit or whether nature is even more exotic than anyone could imagine.

Images

[1] https://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/12/23/1419338855974/Work-under-way-on-the-LHC-012.jpg

[2] https://deardreinstein.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/i-fbb4f1a16976d57713b1fe2cd5754398-string_theory3.png