What Physicists Have Been Missing
An exciting new theory reconciles gravity and quantum physics. I think it’s wrong. But I may be too.
BY SABINE HOSSENFELDER February 2, 2024
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But today, the foundations of physics are a sleepy place. We’re still chewing on the same problems
that we had a century ago—and all that chewing hasn’t made them any more digestible.
What is dark matter? What does quantum mechanics really mean?
And why does gravity refuse to cooperate with quantum physics?
These are problems that, when I can’t sleep, I like to think have already kept Einstein up at night.
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nautil.us
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Problems:
1- What is “quantum gravity"?
/Gravity is an extremely weak force on small scales compared to the EM forces./
2- What is an electron?
To a request to explain what an electron really is supposed to be we can only answer,
“It is part of the A B C of physics”.
/Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington/
3- Is it possible to cure “incurable infinities”?
'' So we really do not know exactly what it is that we are assuming that gives us the difficulty producing infinities.
A nice problem ! However, it turns out that it is possible to sweep the infinities under the rug ,
by a certain crude skill , and temporarily we are able to keep on calculating. ''
/ Richard Feynman/
-------.
An exciting new theory reconciles gravity and quantum physics. I think it’s wrong. But I may be too.
BY SABINE HOSSENFELDER February 2, 2024
-------
But today, the foundations of physics are a sleepy place. We’re still chewing on the same problems
that we had a century ago—and all that chewing hasn’t made them any more digestible.
What is dark matter? What does quantum mechanics really mean?
And why does gravity refuse to cooperate with quantum physics?
These are problems that, when I can’t sleep, I like to think have already kept Einstein up at night.
--------
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What Physicists Have Been Missing
An exciting new theory reconciles gravity and quantum physics. I think it’s wrong. But I may be too.
![nautil.us](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fnautil.us%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fnautilus-block-theme%2Fimages%2Ffavicon.png&hash=52bb6c24172a81452115b953374bd00c&return_error=1)
Problems:
1- What is “quantum gravity"?
/Gravity is an extremely weak force on small scales compared to the EM forces./
2- What is an electron?
To a request to explain what an electron really is supposed to be we can only answer,
“It is part of the A B C of physics”.
/Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington/
3- Is it possible to cure “incurable infinities”?
'' So we really do not know exactly what it is that we are assuming that gives us the difficulty producing infinities.
A nice problem ! However, it turns out that it is possible to sweep the infinities under the rug ,
by a certain crude skill , and temporarily we are able to keep on calculating. ''
/ Richard Feynman/
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