Related papers: On Lee Smolin's The Trouble with Physics
The Special Theory of Relativity and the Theory of the Electron have had an interesting history together. Originally the electron was studied in a non relativistic context and this opened up the interesting possibility that lead to the…
We discuss historical attempts to formulate a physical hypothesis from which Turing's thesis may be derived, and also discuss some related attempts to establish the computability of mathematical models in physics. We show that these…
We study the space-time invariances of the bosonic relativistic particle and bosonic relativistic string using general formulations obtained by incorporating the Hamiltonian constraints into the formalism. We point out that massless…
Extensions (modifications) of the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle are derived within the framework of the theory of Special Scale-Relativity proposed by Nottale. In particular, generalizations of the Stringy Uncertainty Principle are…
In these lectures we give a brief introduction to perturbative and non-perturbative string theory. The outline is the following: 1. Introduction to perturbative string theory 1.1 From point particle to extended objects 1.2 Free closed and…
This article briefly summarizes the motivations for -- and recent progress in -- searching for cosmological configurations within string theory, with a focus on how much we might reasonably hope to learn about fundamental physics from…
Special relativity includes a concealed mechanism for reducing time-dilation effects in two mutually-receding objects. Forwarding their signals via one or more intermediate physical relay stages (a "probe chain") allows enhanced…
It has been pointed out that cosmic string solutions can exist in gauge field theories with broken symmetry even when $\pi _1(G/H)$ is trivial. The stability of such semilocal defects is not guaranteed by topology and depends on dynamical…
The textbook contains the problems in mechanics and special relativity for physics departments of universities. Many original problems were proposed by active scientists from the institutes of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of…
The coupling of a stringlike fluid with ordinary matter and gravity may lead to a closed Universe with the dynamic of an open one. This can provide an alternative solution for the age and horizon problems. A study of density perturbations…
I discuss the early developments of string theory with respect to its connection with gauge theory and general relativity from my own perspective. The period covered is mainly from 1969 to 1974, during which I became involved in research on…
Black holes are extremely relativistic objects. Physical processes around them occur in a regime where the gravitational field is extremely intense. Under such conditions, our representations of space, time, gravity, and thermodynamics are…
The problem of possible astrophysical consequences of the existence of exotic differential structures on manifolds is discussed. It is argued that corrections to the curvature of the form of a source like terms should be expected in the…
Some of the most obviously correct physical theories - namely string theory and the multiverse - make no testable predictions, leading many to question whether we should accept something as scientific even if it makes no testable…
A review is attempted of physical motivations, theoretical and phenomenological aspects, as well as outstanding problems, of the pre-big bang scenario in string cosmology.
We review the status of low-scale string theories and large extra-dimensions. After an overview on different string realizations, we discuss some of the main important problems and we summarize present bounds on the size of possible…
String Theory is a hot topic of physics and mathematics. For the former, it stands as a huge sandbox where the formulation of difficult problems can be simplified and their hard computations carried out. For the latter, it stands as a…
In a recent paper [1], it was introduced a new class of gravitational theories with two local degrees of freedom. The existence of these theories apparently challenges the distinctive role of general relativity as the unique non-linear…
The weakly coupled vacuum of $E_8\otimes E_8$ heterotic string theory remains an attractive scenario for phenomenolgy and cosmology. The particle spectrum is reviewed and the issues of gauge coupling unification, dilaton stabilization and…
In spite of the phenomenological successes of the inflationary universe scenario, the current realizations of inflation making use of scalar fields lead to serious conceptual problems which are reviewed in this lecture. String theory may…