Dark Energy May Be Incompatible With String Theory

[EltonJ]

Like Dark Energy? Perhaps you like String theory as well? What if they are incompatible with one another?

Sorry to bust your hopes, but Dark Energy may be incompatible with string theory. This article tells it all. I was going to post it on Facebook, but I have to stay quiet there. Like a quiet riot.

[high G]

EltonJ wrote:

Like Dark Energy? Perhaps you like String theory as well? What if they are incompatible with one another?

Sorry to bust your hopes, but Dark Energy may be incompatible with string theory. This article tells it all. I was going to post it on Facebook, but I have to stay quiet there. Like a quiet riot.

Good, String Theory is a waste of time. It is un-testable.

[Tacticslion]

Hm.

[Tacticslion]

Quote:

In the meantime, string theorists, who normally form a united front, will disagree about the conjecture. Eva Silverstein, a physics professor at Stanford University and a leader in the effort to construct string-theoretic models of inflation, thinks it is very likely to be false. So does her husband, the Stanford professor Shamit Kachru; he is the first “K” in KKLT, a famous 2003 paper (known by its authors’ initials) that suggested a set of stringy ingredients that might be used to construct de Sitter universes. Vafa’s formula says both Silverstein’s and Kachru’s constructions won’t work. “We’re besieged by these conjectures in our family,” Silverstein joked. But in her view, accelerating-expansion models are no more disfavored now, in light of the new papers, than before. “They essentially just speculate that those things don’t exist, citing very limited and in some cases highly dubious analyses,” she said.

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Quote:

Matthew Kleban, a string theorist and cosmologist at New York University, also works on stringy models of inflation. He stresses that the new swampland conjecture is highly speculative and an example of “lamppost reasoning,” since much of the string landscape has yet to be explored. And yet he acknowledges that, based on existing evidence, the conjecture could well be true. “It could be true about string theory, and then maybe string theory doesn’t describe the world,” Kleban said. “[Maybe] dark energy has falsified it. That obviously would be very interesting.”

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Quote:

Vafa thinks a concerted search for definitely stable de Sitter universe models is long overdue. His conjecture is, above all, intended to press the issue. In his view, string theorists have not felt sufficiently motivated to figure out whether string theory really is capable of describing our world, instead taking the attitude that because the string landscape is huge, there must be a place in it for us, even if no one knows where. “The bulk of the community in string theory still sides on the side of de Sitter constructions [existing],” he said, “because the belief is, ‘Look, we live in a de Sitter universe with positive energy; therefore we better have examples of that type.’”

Interesting.

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

Is this a case of "we know one's true, so the other has to go", or of "ONE of these things can't be right, but which one is which?"

If the latter, then considering some of the eschatological implications I recall hearing about with dark energy, this might not be so bad.

[Thomas Seitz]

Since when did dark energy have eschatological implications?

[Nyan Cat]

high G wrote:

String Theory is a waste of time.

Blasphemy! I bet you're a dog.

[Sharoth]

You know, you need to stop stringing me on and not keep me in the dark about these matters.

[Tacticslion]

Thomas Seitz wrote:

Since when did dark energy have eschatological implications?

I think (from what I gather) he means implied endings to the universe, not specifically religious concepts.

I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:

Is this a case of "we know one's true, so the other has to go", or of "ONE of these things can't be right, but which one is which?"

If the latter, then considering some of the eschatological implications I recall hearing about with dark energy, this might not be so bad.

Of the two, from the article (according to what I can tell), people seem to expect that dark energy is the more correct one based off of observations, but there is no real consensus - hence both of your options are in the running, depending on who you ask; of course, as I quoted right above you, option three, "The whole debate is hookum, there is no conflict" is also on the table.

The ultimate end with dark energy is, no matter what, eventually elements that are not bound by gravity are going to go flying off into the nether, while things that are bound by gravity are going to (broadly speaking) trend towards each other.

So our local cluster (maybe super cluster? I'm not sure) is going to eventually (like, a stupendously long time from now) stick together, and eventually lump into a really, really, really stupidly big galaxy that will, given even more time, eventually collapse into a really big thingy.

Everything outside of that will keep going further away from us, ever-faster, forever, to the point that there will eventually be no evidence left that anything outside of our super duper big galaxy (official measurement term, I'm sure) ever existed, leaving our descendants extremely dubious about any records that they have from our time of existence (presupposing we have any sort of descendants by that time, and presupposing they have access to any of our records; we're talking timelines that dwarf, you know, everything).

The actual progression seems to be as follows:

- there are an infinite (or near-infinite) number of universes; we have dark energy of a positive value (so we eventually end up with stuff lumped together and other stuff flung beyond our reach), called "deSitter universe"

- no, wait, that's not true: there are a finite (but stupendously large) number of universes that run off of logically consistent premises, all the rest get dropped into "pseudo universes" (called "swampland" in the one dude's proposed concept, because it can look solid, but isn't); we're still totes in "deSitter"

- wait, if that's true, there's a math formula that shows (in really simple terms) if something can exist; still in "deSitter" tho

- wait, no, if we follow the formula, then dark energy, as we know it or are guessing it works from observation, can't really work like we think it does; "deSitter" goes into the swamp, or the swamp doesn't make sense

[David knott 242]

I don't think there are any currently viable cosmological theories that have the universe lasting forever. Most have it lasting a very long but finite length of time.

[Wilf Brimley, Mythic Inevitable]

You should stop this discussion immediately. Apparently all your deep thinking about the underlying RAW of The Universe has briefly stopped the Paizo website from existing. Stop it.

Now.

[Wilf Brimley, Mythic Inevitable]

Right Now.

[Wilf Brimley, Mythic Inevitable]

You're still thinking about it.

[Wilf Brimley, Mythic Inevitable]

Stop.

[Wilf Brimley, Mythic Inevitable]

Staaaaaaahp.

[Wilf Brimley, Mythic Inevitable]

Stop thinking about it. Think about a soothing bowl of hot Quaker Oats instead.

[Wilf Brimley, Mythic Inevitable]

Or how your tongue is almost too big for your mouth.

[Wilf Brimley, Mythic Inevitable]

Or your breathing.

Or whether Tensor is an AI or not.

Think about anything else.

[Wilf Brimley, Mythic Inevitable]

You're still doing it. Stop it.

Stop. It.

S
t
o
p

I
t

[Wilf Brimley, Mythic Inevitable]

Fine. I'm going to go get my holy avenger. Stay where you are, you've all got a good smoting coming.

[Yidhra, Goddess of Paradoxes]

In fairness, I'm in the habit of doing exactly what people tell me not to. o wo I can't be held responsible for that, so technically, this is your fault.

[Tacticslion]

But it ate my posts - Inhave to think about it to rebuild them!

Also, wait, you’re an inevitable, that holy avenger is just a +2 cold iron sword for you.

[Mythic Tacticslion]

I think I’ll be fine.

[Tacticslion]

Hm. Forum might not be, though.

[Tacticslion]

Okay, I’ll think about not thinking about it.

[The Dude Lebowski]

I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.

[Tacticslion]

Oh, come on! I said I'd think about not thinking about it! What'ya want from me?!

[Tacticslion]

Okay, I was totally not thinking about it!