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String Theory Predicts Behavior of Superfluids
schrodingers_rabbit writes "Despite formidable odds, condensed matter physicists have made a breakthrough most thought impossible — finding a practical use for string theory. The initial breakthrough was made by physicist and cosmologist Juan Maldacena. His theory states that the known universe is only a 2D construct in anti-de-Sitter space, projected into 3 dimensions. This theory manages to model black holes and quantum theory congruently, a feat that has eluded scientists for decades; but it fails to correspond to the shape of space-time in the known universe. However, it does predict thermodynamic properties of black holes, including higher-dimensional viscosity — the equations for which elegantly and almost exactly calculate the behavior of quark-gluon plasma and other superfluids. According to Jan Zaanen at the University of Leiden, 'The theory is calculating precisely what we are seeing in experiments.' Unfortunately, the correspondence cannot prove or disprove string theory, although it is a positive step." Not an easy path to follow: one condensed matter theorist said, "It took two years and two 1000-page books of dense mathematics, but I learned string theory and got kind of enchanted by it. [When the string-theory related] thing began to... make predictions about high-temperature superconductors, my traditional mainstay, I was one of the few condensed matter physicists with the preparation to take it up."
Chicken fingers. That's my grand unified theory.
It taking another step towards that theory good?
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
A bit of a side point, you can never prove a theory no matter how much biologists (or anyone else) claims differently, you can only uncover evidence that supports it. However you can disprove a theory quite easily just by finding one case that doesn't fit with the theoretical predictions. /. and we don't read articles here) just says that the mathematics from string theory has been used to model already observed behavior. Neat idea but until the mathematics makes a testable prediction that matches the followup experiments, it is just masturbation with numbers.
This is what makes evolution a bad theory and creationism a much worse one, neither makes concrete testable predictions. String theory falls in the same category, no testable predictions. The summery (because this is
Yes I have my phd in theoretical soft condensed mater physics and work in a research lab.
Have you met old scientists? Smelly old men with irritable bowel and asthma.
Yay me!
I'm not sure I can explain why, but when I hear such comments my gut reaction is "wow, that's a lot of faggotry going on here!".
Maybe because of the false humbleness that goes with saying such things as "Most people cannot even comprehend it, I can a little bit (<--false modesty here) and anyone who can (i.e. the elite of people who even have the brain power to picture it that you are part of) will necessarily then truly comprehend how small, short-lived, and insignificant they are in the grand scheme of things. (<--false humbleness and all-out faggotry here)".
But it's cool, we all know chicks dig such statements, it makes us sound smarter than anyone else and "deeper" too. And gayer too.
You just got troll'd!