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Normally in a physical theory, you have some equations describing the dynamics and you go looking for solutions to these equations. The dynamical equations may
by auntienomen 8y ago
Normally in a physical theory, you have some equations describing the dynamics and you go looking for solutions to these equations. The dynamical equations may have some parameters (such as the constant G in Newtonian/Einsteinian gravity), and then there are usually additional parameters required to describe the solutions (such as the mass M of the gravitational field source).
String theory has the unusual property that its dynamical equations don't have free parameters. The dynamics is apparently unique. But there are many many solutions to these equations, and so there's a huge space of parameters from that. In particular, if you go looking for ways of embedding the Standard Model in string theory, all of its dynamical parameters (like the electron mass and Newton's constant) are realized as solution parameters.
- kolpa 8y agoCan I make Newtonian mechanics into a dyanically 0-free-parameter theory by stating that F == gMm/r^2 , where g is a solution parameter ("the gravity of the universal landscape" ?
- auntienomen 8y agoYou can do this -- and indeed, promoting constants to fields is a common technique in the analysis of field theories. But it's cheating if you say the constant is dynamical and then don't say what the dynamics is. In field theory, you have to make additional choices here, and there are a lot of additional parameters that enter. In string theory, you don't have to/get to make a choice at all. The dynamics is uniquely determined. It's not exactly a free lunch, but it's a very unusual feature for a physical theory.