The world in eleven dimensions: a tribute to Oskar Klein
Abstract
Current attempts to find a unified theory that would reconcile Einstein's General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, and explain all known physical phenomena, invoke the Kaluza-Klein idea of extra spacetime dimensions. The best candidate is M-theory, which lives in eleven dimensions, the maximum allowed by supersymmetry of the elementary particles. We give a non-technical account. An Appendix provides an updated version of Edwin A. Abbott's 1884 satire {\it Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions}. Entitled {\it Flatland, Modulo 8}, it describes the adventures of a superstring theorist, A. Square, who inhabits a ten-dimensional world and is initially reluctant to accept the existence of an eleventh dimension.
Cite
@article{arxiv.hep-th/0111237,
title = {The world in eleven dimensions: a tribute to Oskar Klein},
author = {M. J. Duff},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-th/0111237},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
Oskar Klein Professorship Inaugural Lecture, University of Michigan, 16 March 2001. 38 pages, Latex, 15 color figures