WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF TODAY’S PHYSICS?
This is a fair question that needs to be asked, and answered, by every current physicist and it needs to be asked of every student graduating with any level of a physics degree. Specifically, every graduating physics student needs to have an understanding of what is next for them in a physics life. While every current physicist needs to understand where their work is going, how is it going to get there and how it is going to help all of us understand the universe in which we live. In simple English, there has to be an “end game” and a thorough understanding of what that “end game” actually means.
There is a related question to this, “Is Physics Dead” and this question has the additional variation of “Is Physics at a Dead End?” To me the answer is a “Qualified NO.” The real problem is the mere fact that these questions, and others like them, are being asked at all. And, that I cannot simply answer “NO” instead of having to qualify my “NO.” Why? Because changes must be made by today’s physicists at what we are looking at, and looking for, or today’s physics could be dying. It is time to go back to the basics and ask more questions associated with what we already know. It is time to take a hard look at what is known and to ensure that as we move forward there are no conflicts and unanswered questions within what we have already discovered. Most importantly, it is time for some imagination, some thinking outside of the box, and to really ask a lot of questions about where we can go with the knowledge already discovered.
As a species we are very lucky to be living in the universe we do at the time we do. Nobody can deny that our universe is a wondrous and fabulous place that needs to be, and is waiting to be, physically explored by our species. We have to work on touching and personally seeing our universe rather than simply sitting here and thinking about it through mathematical or computer modeling.
Our universe is just under 14 billion years old. The current estimates are that our species is about 200,000 years old. If we accept that physics first started for our current time here on earth with Newton in about 1687 with the publication of the Principia then physics for us is about 334 years old. If we accept that our most recent concepts in physics started with Einstein and Planck, then our current physics is about 121 years old. The physics of our universe started with the “birth” of our universe a little less than 14 billion years ago. We only know a very small amount of the physics of our universe. And to be perfectly honest, we have not learned very much about our universe in the last 121 years.
Saying what I stated directly above is an easy thing to do, providing information that supports what I just said is a completely different story so let’s talk about the last 121 years of our physics.
One of the biggest leaps in physics over the last 121 years comes in the form of quantum physics, which in turn has brought us the standard model. Since the beginning of quantum physics there has been an unsolved and not understood problem, particle-wave duality and its associated measurement problem. The first potential solution to the measurement problem was associated with the Copenhagen interpretation and this solution was to literally ignore the problem. Simply do not talk about the measurement problem or discuss it. There have subsequently been multiple different interpretations of quantum physics to try and address the measurement problem, but all of them have associated problems. In other words, the measurement problem is still very real. And more importantly, still very unsolved or understood.
Has anybody ever thought about quantum physics without wave-particle duality? Maybe it is not a “real” issue. Wave-particle duality was determined via the double slit experiment. There are some rigid qualifications associated with this experiment, like a coherent light source, which is not consistent with our “real” universe. Additionally, there are other possible explanations for this duality and it is possible to make some changes to the experiment that undoes the wave-particle duality. However, this duality and its strict interpretation in quantum physics, despite the unsolvable measurement problem, is so ingrained that nobody questions it. Rather than following the simplest path of another explanation for duality, today’s physicist tries to come up with whole new interpretations for quantum physics to try and account for duality.
As for the standard model of particles, it is truly a critical and monumental discovery. But it too has many associated issues that are simply not understood or questioned. One of the things directly associated with the standard model of particles is a unifying theory, a single theory or mathematical equation that unifies all forces and particles and explains everything. Before we can move forward and completely understand what the standard model is telling us and discover a single theory for everything, don’t we have to completely understand the standard model and not have any conflicts within it?
The model for today’s physics path to a unifying theory within the standard model of particles is String Theory combined with Supersymmetry (SUSY). It must be stated up front that String Theory is a mathematical model. There is no experiment that can be performed today, or in the foreseeable future, that can test, prove or disprove string theory. One other note, some of the math associated with string theory and the standard model of particles is so complex that it cannot be completed. Again, this begs the question, if we do not understand it to start with how can we possibly figure out or understand where it is leading us?
Trying to find the path from the standard model alone to a unifying theory proved to be unattainable as there were simply too many problems. A solution to the problems was found in SUSY. In essence SUSY expands the standard model of particles by adding over three times more particles. Originally with SUSY the added new particles were supposed to be at the same energy level as the current particles of the standard model. However, those particles should have been discovered by now and they still have yet to be found. So, the new version of SUSY makes the additional particles a bit “heavier.” Even the heavier version of SUSY particles should have been found by now, but they
still have not been found. So the next version of SUSY invokes spontaneous symmetry breaking, which is basically a “property” of quantum physics that is completely unexplained and for which there is no understanding that in essence is claimed because it makes things work out for physicists without having to make adjustments.
Needless to say, SUSY is no longer the apple of a lot of physicist’s eyes, and they are starting to question it. However, if SUSY fails, the most accepted version of string theory also fails and this would be huge. Specifically, there is no other path to a unifying theory, and string theory has been worked on for over 50 years. In other words, over 50 years of work and a concept that has been ingrained in physics for over 100 years, goes right out the window. Needless to say shaking the core of today’s physics this much is not something that any current physicist is willing to step up to the plate and talk about.
The failure of SUSY should not come as a surprise to any of today's physicists as a close look shows that it really was doomed for failure. Even though the standard model of particles really is a tremendous discovery, there are so many open questions associated with it and so many things that simply have yet to be understood. It is impossible to expand something over three-fold without expanding all of the associated questions, issues and parts that are not understood. Just consider the following few questions:
There are three generations of quarks. The best that can be said is that it is not known if there is more generation of quarks or not. If there are, then SUSY also has to account for all of the extra generations and there is no work with respect to adding more particles to SUSY.
Anti-matter asymmetry. All of the particles in the standard model have an anti-matter partner that for the most part does not exist in our universe. SUSY also has to account for all of these particles. Again, no explanation about this within SUSY.
And the biggest issue of all: the understanding of mass. The fact of the matter is there is no real understanding of what mass is. The mass of the proton is known, and the mass of the quarks that make up the proton are known. But, adding the mass of the quarks inside the proton up gives a total mass that is nowhere near the mass of the proton. How can this be? Nobody knows. And SUSY would just make this problem even worse.
Just two more points for the standard model and SUSY. First, in one of the pieces I read regarding SUSY falling out of favor with some of today’s physicists, there were some physicists saying that there must be something else going on that we do not understand that is hiding the SUSY particles. In other words, if something doesn’t exist that you want to exist in order to make your theory work all you have to do now is call upon some unknown quantum physics to justify what can’t be found. Is SUSY so ingrained in today’s physics that it is going to be made to work no matter what? What kind of physics is this? It is not physics and it will never be physics.
Second, and the more important point has to do with unification, there is nothing in nature or today’s physics that requires unification or dictates that it must exist. Unification is nothing more than a 100 year old physicist’s “want to exist” concept that has become so ingrained in today’s physics that it is considered the ultimate goal. Such an ultimate goal that some of today’s physicists will go to any length to make it happen, refer to SUSY. This is not physics, and it will not lead us anywhere regarding understanding the spectacular universe we live in.
Trying to discover a unifying theory goes back to the same basic time as the measurement problem. That is that the two greatest discoveries of modern physics have unsolvable problems ingrained in them under the current direction of today’s physics. However, nobody is willing to try anything new, look in other directions or even accept that maybe, just maybe, the current working theories are incomplete or possibly even wrong. Even more importantly, nobody is willing to slow down and answer questions about what we already know before speeding ahead hoping to find answers tomorrow to what we have passed by today. Staying on this course means there is no future for physics. A radical statement to make and position to hold, but it is as valid as the current direction of today’s physics.
Consider this as one last point: I have referenced the passage of “time” throughout this piece. However, when it comes to “time” the only thing we know is Einstein showed us via his Equivalence Principle that time is not constant. There are changes in the speed at which time moves that depend on gravity, acceleration and speed of an object at any location in the universe. In other words, the rate of the passage of time is pretty much different by some amount virtually everywhere in our universe. Understanding time and what it means for the universe rather than just what “time” means to us is one of our first steps toward moving forward in physics. This, and the other things discussed, is why when the hard question is asked, “Is Physics Dead, Dying or at a Dead End” the “NO” has to be qualified.
I take my dogs out every night for a last outing before bedtime. Every night I look up into the night sky and every night I am still amazed at the expanse and beauty of the universe we are so lucky to exist in. I also marvel at the distinctiveness and richness of who we are as a species. I simply cannot believe that we are destined for confinement to this infinitely small planet in our small part of the universe. I believe, rather I know, that we are supposed to be a real, functioning part of our universe with everything else that exists within this universe.
The physics of the universe has been around for almost 14 billion years. We cannot make up for our “lost time” in a couple of hundred years. It is time for us to slow down and take the time to really understand what we know and answer all of the questions associated with what we know so that we can move forward with confidence and understanding.
