Epicycles and String Theory

Epicycle

String Theory

I am reading about the stability of the Universe. The link to this work by Isabella Masina, is also in the previous post.

It seems that the Universe is as interesting as it can be, as Freeman Dyson wrote many years ago. The experimental values for the Standard Model, are such, that it could be possible that in a desert, i.e. no more interesting physics, the Universe is Unstable, or Stable, a bit away from the natural boundary of the so-called, Planck Mass.

This brings to mind the Astronomical models before Nicolaus Copernicus.

Following Ptolemy, there was a complicated system of calculation, to predict planet positions. Copernicus Heliocentric model, was easier for calculations. It seems to me, that String Theory, which is hard for particle physics predictions, is in worse shape than Ptolemy's Epicycle  Model. To this day, there is not a single prediction, checked at particle physics laboratories. This in itself is not so bad, Isaac Newton himself, turned to the sky, when he realized that his Universal Theory of Gravity, was difficult to prove in a laboratory, as Cavendish finally did a hundred years later. The problems is deeper now. There is no clear path of how to proceed, what to fix, what to improve, where to look at.

At times it seems that theoretical physicists, are looking for a nice theory, and not for a useful theory.

All of a sudden, an unexpected experimental result is announced. The Higgs particle has a mass, just small enough to make the Universe Unstable, or Stable, and as far as I can see, only one of the creators of string theory, Holger Bech Nielsen,  has something interesting to say. Besides, his observation is not based on string theory, it is just a nice guess, of how to solve the so-called "Cosmological Constant Problem." Here is Nielsen's paper.

Ms. Masina's calculations are daunting.

I hope to get a simple testable principle; something very interesting just happened.

[1209.0393] Higgs boson and Top quark masses as tests of Electroweak Vacuum Stability

[1209.0393] Higgs boson and Top quark masses as tests of Electroweak Vacuum Stability:

"The measurements of the Higgs boson and top quark masses can be used to extrapolate the Standard Model Higgs potential at energies up to the Planck scale. Adopting a NNLO renormalization procedure, we: i) find that electroweak vacuum stability is at present allowed, discuss the associated theoretical and experimental errors and the prospects for its future tests; ii) determine the boundary conditions allowing for the existence of a shallow false minimum slightly below the Planck scale, which is a stable configuration that might have been relevant for primordial inflation; iii) derive a conservative upper bound on type I seesaw right-handed neutrino masses, following from the requirement of electroweak vacuum stability."

'via Blog this'

Middle East: Hard Problem

Today we can read in the NYT about the coming war in Lebanon.

I remember reading during the seventies, when I was a student in California, about the terrible Lebanese war. Actually the modern crisis in the Middle East started with the establishment of Israel after the Second World War. To me, this is looking more and more, like the beginning of a worldwide bottleneck for humanity, I explain:

First a little aside, in 2666, you can read about a low intensity war in the US-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez. Today Tom Friedman writes about how Mexico has a bright future; it will take more than his usual positive outlook to convince me, though. I see another low intensity war in the streets of Chicago, where boys as young as ten sometimes carry guns, and Harper High School students are killed.

We have a hard human problem, when people are displaced, because young men with powerful weapons are killing each other.Whenever I move into a new neighborhood, I walk around to get the feeling of safety near my house. Here in Warrenville, I feel safe, the only problems I have are with my immediate family, sometimes we do not agree, but that is manageable.

With this aside out of the way, I look into the Middle East.

Agriculture around wheat started in Mesopotamia, for several thousand years now, people in that part of the world, have been fighting each other, brother against brother, like in the biblical tale of Cain and Abel. Modern Cain & Abel do not even know they are siblings! The difficulty resides in the global character of the conflict. Cell phones and cyber attacks are part of this new version of an old family quarrel. These young men, have powerful weapons to destroy their brothers, and no wisdom to use them. Starting at December 18, 2010, we have the so-called Tunisian revolution. Now the revolution moved to Syria, and already moved to Lebanon. First young men and their families moved to Lebanon, later they will come to the Chicago area, like they did twenty two years ago.  There is plenty of water in this part of the world, but also plenty of brotherly hatred. Latin Kings against black gangs, and fights inside ethnic groups, besides.

This is why I consider this a hard problem, because I do not see a solution and it affects ME!

Family

Lev, Mary and Leza