At long last, a unified theory combining gravity with the other fundamental forces—electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces—is within reach. Bringing gravity into the fold has been the goal of generations of physicists, who have struggled to reconcile the incompatibility of two cornerstones of modern physics: quantum field theory and Einstein's theory of gravity.

Although the theory is promising, the duo point out that they have not yet completed its proof. The theory uses a technical procedure known as renormalization, a mathematical way of dealing with infinities that show up in the calculations.

So far Partanen and Tulkki have shown that this works up to a certain point—for so-called ‘first order’ terms—but they need to make sure the infinities can be eliminated throughout the entire calculation.

“If renormalization doesn’t work for higher order terms, you’ll get infinite results. So it’s vital to show that this renormalization continues to work,” explains Tulkki. “We still have to make a complete proof, but we believe it’s very likely we’ll succeed.”

  • @corvus@lemmy.mlEnglish
    5•5 days ago

    I am a physicist. String theory already unified QFT and GR and that doesn’t mean it’s a verified physical theory, you need to validate it through experiment. It’s physics 101. Just watch some Sabine H. videos to see how she speaks about string theory being a failure besides being mathematically consistent.

    • KrudlerEnglish
      -1•5 days ago

      Nothing has unified gr and qft and you’re a liar

      • AgosagrorEnglish
        2•5 days ago

        No string theory has unified them, it hasn’t been verified. I’m not familiar with the intricacies of string theory, but presumably it is logically consistent. Or “proven”.

        It hasn’t been experimentally verified

        • KrudlerEnglish
          -1•4 days ago

          You have extraordinarily loose standards. Sad.

          • AgosagrorEnglish
            2•4 days ago

            What? How do you mean.

            I said it was logically consistent, which if it wasn’t no one would be shouting from the hills about it, since it would be the same as saying that 5 = 4.

            It might be fictious, I.e. the equations don’t relate to reality, but it is good fiction, in that it doesn’t produce nonsense.

            • KrudlerEnglish
              1•4 days ago

              You can produce any equation that proves anything. Which is in no way related to physical reality. Get a grip.

              This isn’t a theory, it isn’t a hypothesis. It’s the raging of a drunken mind looking for funding sources.

              • AgosagrorEnglish
                1•4 days ago

                Well I never commented on what it was, although I agree with you on the latter point, string theory doesn’t to the best of my knowledge appear to be testable, so its a bit of a waste of time.