Life at the interface of particle physics and string theory
Abstract
If the results of the first LHC run are not betraying us, many decades of particle physics are culminating in a complete and consistent theory for all nongravitational physics: the standard model. But despite this monumental achievement there is a clear sense of disappointment: many questions remain unanswered. Remarkably, most unanswered questions could just be environmental, and disturbingly to some the existence of life may depend on that environment. Meanwhile there has been increasing evidence that the seemingly ideal candidate for answering these questions, string theory, gives an answer few people initially expected: a large “landscape” of possibilities that can be realized in a multiverse and populated by eternal inflation. At the interface of “bottom-up” and “top-down” physics, a discussion of anthropic arguments becomes unavoidable. Developments in this area are reviewed, focusing especially on the last decade.
- Publication:
-
Reviews of Modern Physics
- Pub Date:
- October 2013
- DOI:
- 10.1103/RevModPhys.85.1491
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1306.5083
- Bibcode:
- 2013RvMP...85.1491S
- Keywords:
-
- 11.25.Wx;
- 11.25.Yb;
- 11.25.Mj;
- 98.80.Bp;
- String and brane phenomenology;
- M theory;
- Compactification and four-dimensional models;
- Origin and formation of the Universe;
- High Energy Physics - Phenomenology;
- High Energy Physics - Theory
- E-Print:
- 59 pages, 5 figures. Invited contribution to Reviews of Modern Physics (original submission date 25 March 2013). Extended version available at http://www.nikhef.nl/~t58/Site/RMP v2: References added, a few typos corrected. v3: Hyperlinks enabled, tex source made paperscape-proof, a few typos corrected. v4: Journal info added, no changes in manuscript