Predicting the next big bang
18 Jun 2006 6:27:27 UTC
Topic 191405
(moderation:
Assuming string theory is right and the big bang was caused by two branes colliding, is it possible to predict when the branes will collide again? I can only assume that we dont have enough information. We would need to know how far apart the branes are and their acceleration toward one another. Ive been thinking about this for a while and just want to know what other people think.
Predicting the next big bang
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Almost everything from the Superstring/M therories is beyond our ability to test. Consequently it's extremely easy to build castles in the sky, and almost impossible to tightly define or demolish them.
The one exception is that gravity, unlike the other fundamental forces is not bound to the 4space of our marcoscopic world, but can spill over into the other 6/7 dimensions. IF they're loosely wrapped high energy cosmic rays/LHC experiments may be able to produce quantum black holes. Other experimentalists are going at this from the opposite direction by trying to measure gravity on extremly low scales. The ludicrus weakness of gravity is making this an extremely difficult task though, and while EM and the nuclear forces have been measured to subatomic scales gravity has only been probed to the millimeter (.1mm???) scale.