| In a recent TEDx talk, physicist Garrett Lisi talked about his E8 theory that potentially unifies quantum mechanics and general relativity, and how research at the Large Hadron Collider could potentially support his theory by finding new elementary particles. |
While pursuing an unanswered question at the heart of Quantum Field Theory, he began to develop what he called "An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything," which proposed a unified field theory combining particle physics and Albert Einstein's theory of gravitation.
For over half a century, scientists have tried, unsuccessfully, to unify the two governing theories of the physical world: general relativity, which explains the behavior of very large objects, like stars, and quantum mechanics, which precisely describes the phenomena of very small objects, like particles. The problem confounded Einstein and has perplexed Hawking, but Lisi thinks he has the answer.
Relativity and quantum mechanics are written in distinct mathematical languages, and scientists have not found a way to unify them—a common syntax. This makes it hard to describe certain crossover phenomena, like the horizons of black holes. Most physicists believe that the problem isn’t that the universe is incoherent but that there is something missing in the math.
Scientists have long hoped that new experiments in cosmology or particle physics would break this impasse. But discoveries on this scale haven’t been forthcoming, and it’s not clear that some of the most compelling modern theories can even be tested by experiment. This is particularly true of string theory. The appeal of the theory lies in its high-end math, but it also twists the real world in unusual ways. String theorists believe that the world has ten or eleven dimensions, depending on the version of the theory, with the extra ones balled up in “compactifications” too tiny to perceive.
Lisi, working outside the world of academic physics, built his theory as an outsider might, relying on a grab bag of component parts: a hand-built mathematical structure, an unconventional way of describing gravity, and his mysterious mathematical entity known as E8. With the publication of his theory online, Lisi got a lot of attention and publicity.
More than a few physicists are not in favor of Lisi's theory. "A huge joke," one called it. "Nonsense," said another. Some reached for the ultimate scientific insult: "crackpot." More thorough critics argued that the E8 model wouldn't be able to accommodate all the universe's particles.
Though Lisi has detractors, he also has his fans, those who like the idea that it's still possible for a maverick physics genius to exist. "I and other people think the academic world suffers from not being more inclusive of people of this kind," says Lee Smolin, a highly regarded researcher at the Waterloo, Canada–based Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, who has corresponded with Lisi. "We're not talking about a crackpot. He has a Ph.D. from a good graduate program, and his work is well within the bounds of good research."
SOURCE TED
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