Collider may provide proof for string theory of physics

On the large scale, Einstein's laws show the smooth, predictable actions of relatively big phenomena. But on a tiny scale, things are "chaotic," Greene said.

When Einstein's theories were applied to extremely small things, "the laws made wrong predictions."

String theory accommodates both sets of laws. It holds that each subatomic particle actually is an incredibly minute vibrating filament of energy. The frequency of the vibration determines whether the particle is a quark or an electron, for example.

Vibrating strings define space, time and everything in existence, many scientists believe. The theory "winds up fixing" the conflict between the laws of the large and the small.

But if string theory is correct, "it says something really wild," Greene said. It fails when restricted to our three spacial dimensions — up and down, left and right, front and back. "If that's all there is in space," he said, "this thing doesn't work."

Not until 10 spacial dimensions are used in the calculations do the equations work. But we perceive only three. Where are the others? They could be curled up within the normal dimensions, he said.

Greene asked the audience to imagine a piece of paper, essentially a two-dimensional object. When it is curled up and seen from a distance, it looks like a one-dimensional line. But if an ant were on it, the insect might find itself going back and forth in one dimension and around the tube of paper in another.

Peering through binoculars, a watcher might see the ant's circular sauntering and realize the paper has another dimension.

Understanding the nature of the paper "escaped you without the right equipment — the binoculars."

String theory may allow tiny curled-up dimensions to be everywhere, so small that we can't detect them. "We haven't seen them — yet," he said.

But the Large Hadron Collider being built near Geneva — an almost 17-mile circular tube built beneath the French-Swiss border, because it was cheaper to use land underground for such a massive structure — may provide proof of string theory. When it begins smashing rotating streams of protons together, the ideas may be verified.

"There's a chance ... that some of the debris from these collisions will be ejected out of our dimensions," and scientists may be able to discover "these missing energy signatures," he said. "If this is confirmed experimentally in the next few years, to me this would be one of the most significant moments in the history of science."

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