Читать книгу String Theory For Dummies - Andrew Zimmerman Jones - Страница 18

Modern physics has two basic scientific laws: quantum physics and general relativity. These two scientific laws represent radically different fields of study. Quantum physics studies the very smallest objects in nature, while relativity tends to study nature on the scale of planets, galaxies, and the universe as a whole. (Obviously, gravity affects small particles too, and relativity accounts for this as well, but the effect is usually tiny.) Theories that attempt to unify quantum physics and relativity are theories of quantum gravity, and the most promising of all such theories today is string theory.

The closed strings of string theory (see the preceding section) correspond to the behavior expected for gravity. Specifically, they have properties that match the long-sought-after graviton, a particle that would carry the force of gravity between objects.

Quantum gravity is the subject of Chapter 2, where we cover this idea in much greater depth.