The Grand Idea About The Universal Universe

Lianne S. Meléndez Cora

Sigbørn Hervik, one of the youngest professors of the youngest professors of mathematics at the University of Stavenger in Norway, together with professors A.A Coles from Dulhousie University, G.W. Gibbons from the University of Cambridge and C.N. Pope from Texas A&M University, came up with a new idea called “The Theory of Everything”. This new theory joins three of the most important theories of how the Universe came to be: Theory of Relativity, Theory of Quantum Mechanics and the young String Theory. Now let’s give a brief explanation of each of these theories.

The Theory of Relativity was proposed by the physicist Albert Einstein in 1915. This theory states that for objects traveling near the speed of light, objects will move slower and shorten in length from the point of view of an observer on Earth. He also derived the equation E=mc^2, which reveals the equivalence of mass and energy. Einstein also applied this theory to gravitational fields and he derived the “curved space time continuum”, which depicts the dimensions of space and time as a two-dimensional surface where massive objects create valleys and dips in the surface. The Theory of Relativity is divided into two parts. The first part is the Special theory of Relativity, which talks about whether rest and motion are relative or absolute. The other part is the General Theory of Relativity, which deals with the particles as they accelerate due to gravitation. This theory expands Newton’s theory, showing that objects continue to move in a straight line in space time, but we observe the motion as acceleration because of the curved nature of space-time.

The Quantum Theory deals with the tiniest things such as particles are made of. It was a collaboration of many physicists such as Neils Bohr, Erwin Schrödinger, Wolfgang Pauil and Max Planck. Planck is the originator of the Quantum Theory, while Heisenburg formulated the Uncertainty Principle. Planck found that energy is always emitted or absorbed in discrete units called quanta. He also developed the Planck constant h=6.62 x 〖10〗^(-34) Js. Niels Bohr contribution was his model of the atom that explains that electrons are held in their orbits through the electrical attraction between the positive nucleus and the negative electron.

In the String Theory the elementary particles we observe in particle accelerators could be thought of as the excitation modes of elementary strings. As in guitar playing, the stings must be stretched under tension in order to become excited. The strings are floating in space time and have tension. The average size of a string should be somewhere near the length scale of quantum gravity, called Planck length. This length is approximately 〖10〗^(-33)cm. Sting theories are classified accordingly to whether or not the strings are required to be closed loops and whether or not the particle spectrum includes fermions. Supersymmetry relates the particles that transmit forces to the particles that make up matter.

The Theory of Everything is based in all the theories just explained. Why? These theories don’t work properly if they are treated independently. One has something or explains a concept that the other doesn’t. With the Theory of Everything, the professors want “to construct curvature or projection operators that split geometry into small entities. It is a tool or a method based on mathematical formulas designed to find such operators”. Their method relies on linear algebra. “The quantum leap is that we relate the curvature of space to linear algebra in a special way”, Hervic says. This theory is obviously under investigation. The challenge this scientists are facing is that nobody has thought of their method before. So they need to discover consequences and find areas of application. I think that the contributions of all this great thinkers are a very important part of human kind. Without them, we will not be sitting in a classroom learning physics. Although sometimes it is a little hard for me to understand some concepts, I am more convinced that physics explain everything from the tiniest particles in an atom to the huge bodies that orbit our universe.