In September, the Nobel laureate David Gross, professor of physics at the Kavli Institute of California-Santa Barbara, gave a public lecture at the University of Iceland on the outstanding success of quantum mechanics and quantum field theory since their discovery. In this context, David Gross discussed string theory, which is not yet a fully developed theory, but a framework where all the fundamental forces of Nature are unified. String theory is based on the same principles as quantum mechanics, and is thus part of quantum field theory. Despite of all the impressive achievements of modern theoretical physics, numerous conceptual key-questions should be still answered. Among the most interesting ones, he mentioned the issue of the nature of space-time. Indeed, the model of space-time we have now, although extremely useful, might not be fundamental: perhaps space-time emerges from more fundamental physical processes, as the gauge/gravity duality seems to suggest. [Read more...]
Add a comment