Utrecht Superstring Experiment

May 23rd, 2005 by Walt

Last week Slashdot linked to an article on Physicsweb that reports on an experiment at the Institute of Theoretical Physics to create superstrings in the lab.

I finally found a chance to look at the original article on ArXiv, and Physicsweb’s article turns out to be misleading. The proposed experiment would simulate a superstring, not actually create one. This is a perfectly legitimate idea, but condensed matter physics is the Tinkertoys of quantum mechanics: you can build almost anything. A simulation of a superstring is a long way away from showing that superstrings really exist.

3 Responses to “Utrecht Superstring Experiment”

  1. Jacob Freeze Says:

    If payday loan is willing to give the Utrecht researchers “credit” for creating a superstring, I can’t see why Walt is so sceptical.

  2. Jacob Freeze Says:

    The previous comment made a lot more sense before Walt deleted the spam from payday loan.

  3. Walt Says:

    I’m hiding the evidence of my humiliation at the hands of payday loan.

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