Related papers: The dangers of non-empirical confirmation
This Resource Letter provides a guide to some of the the introductory and review literature in string theory. It is in no way complete, though it is intended to be of use to students at several levels. Owing to the nature of the subject,…
Some physicists hope to use string/M-theory to construct a comprehensive underlying theory of our physical world a "final theory". Can such a theory be tested? A quantum theory of gravity must be formulated in 10 dimensions, so obviously…
Nonlinear effects were observed in a forced vibrating string. The motion of the string becomes elliptic as the amplitude of the vibration increases. The fundamental resonance frequency depends on the amplitude of the vibration. At…
When assessing a software-based system, the results of Bayesian statistical inference on operational testing data can provide strong support for software reliability claims. For inference, this data (i.e. software successes and failures) is…
Over the last few years, string theory has changed profoundly. Most importantly, novel duality relations have emerged which involve gauge theories of brane excitations on one side and various closed string backgrounds on the other. In this…
Although we accept that Physics is, as a last resort, an experimental science, the relationship between theory and experiment is far away from being trivial. Any experiment is always explained within a determinate theoretical context and,…
Despite the lack of experimental confirmation and of unambiguous theoretical proof, superstring theory has long been considered by many the only consistent quantized theory of gravity and the unique viable framework for the unification of…
String theory and supersymmetry are theoretical ideas that go beyond the standard model of particle physics and show promise for unifying all forces. After a brief introduction to supersymmetry, we discuss the prospects for its experimental…
It has been shown that there is a sequential embedding structure in a $w_N$\ string theory based on a linearized $W_N$\ algebra. The $w_N$\ string theory is obtained as a special realization of the $w_{N+1}$\ string. The $w_{\infty}$\…
Language is not only used to transmit neutral information; we often seek to persuade by arguing in favor of a particular view. Persuasion raises a number of challenges for classical accounts of belief updating, as information cannot be…
Familiar statistical tests and estimates are obtained by the direct observation of cases of interest: a clinical trial of a new drug, for instance, will compare the drug's effects on a relevant set of patients and controls. Sometimes,…
Recent work by Faizal et al. (2025) claims that G\"odelian undecidability of non-algorithmic truths in our universe imply the impossibility of a formal, algorithmic simulation of the universe. This paper clarifies the distinction between…
String theory predicts that the couplings of Nature descend from dynamical fields. All known string-motivated particle physics models also come with a wide range of possible extra sectors. It is common to posit that such moduli are frozen…
We present a brief review of selected topics in noncommutative field theories ranging from its revival in string theory, its influence on quantum field theories, its possible experimental signatures and ending with some applications in…
The analysis of theory-confirmation generally takes the deductive form: show that a theory in conjunction with physical data and auxiliary hypotheses yield a prediction about phenomena; verify the prediction; provide a quantitative measure…
An infinite number of distinct $d=1$ matrix models reproduce the perturbation theory of $d=2$ string theory. Due to constraints of causality, however, we argue that none of the existing constructions gives a consistent nonperturbative…
This article surveys some of the highlights in the development of string theory through the first superstring revolution in 1984. The emphasis is on topics in which the author was involved, especially the observation that critical string…
There are many ways we can not know. Even in systems that we created ourselves, as, for example, systems in mathematical logic, Go\"edel and Tarski's theorems impose limits on what we can know. As we try to speak of the real world, things…
The likelihood principle makes strong claims about the nature of statistical evidence but is controversial. Its claims are undermined by the existence of several examples that are assumed to show that it allows, with unity probability,…
Nonperturbative effects in string theory are usually associated to D-branes. In many cases it can be explicitly shown that D-brane instantons control the large-order behavior of string perturbation theory, leading to the well-known (2g)!…