Question: Do you believe in string theory and what is it?

Jordan McElwee answered on 13 Mar 2020:

This is a really tough question and I’m not sure I know enough about string theory to answer it as best I want to, but I’ll give it my best shot.

String theory was introduced to try and make two exceptionally good theories (quantum mechanics and general relativity) work together. It tries to explain how gravity (described by general relativity) works in the quantum realm. To do this it represents particles as tiny strings, and the way the string vibrates describes the physical properties of the particle. However, there have been many problems with the theory as it tries to make sense of quantum gravity.

I think string theory is a good theory, but it needs a lot more work on it before I really start to think that it could be true. And, as I’m an experimentalist, of course it needs evidence!