Revised 11/30/11
From very early on, the idea that there could be an elementary understanding of nature and it having an explanation in the mathematical and physical world came from Plato. That was when things were much simpler compared to the twenty-first century. Now we have volumes of different mathematical equations that explain different physical fundamentals of one nature. Different disciplines in math and physics demonstrate the big picture of science is dislocated. Scientists, when examining the work of others, tend to reduce down and remove unwanted rabbit trails that lead away from the core of the theory. They may even combine cluttered loose ends into one elegant understanding of the observable. The idea that there is a core explanation of all of nature is not new.
In the nineteenth century, with the work of Maxwell and Faraday in different fields of electricity and magnetism forces, Maxwell discovered this duality was related. He published his equation that combined the two right-angled forces into a unified theory of Electromagnetism. It turns out that his equations also describe properties of electromagnetic waves of energy. This includes light and all the other EM waves such as radio, gamma, etc. Maxwell’s equations also predicted the speed of light.[1] Michelson in 1877 conducted his first known successful light speed experiment. Six years later he collaborated with Edward Morley, spending considerable time and money to create an improved version of the experiment.[2] For decades the speed of light equation went unnoticed until the twentieth century.
In 1905 Albert Einstein published his theory of Special Relativity SR of the speed of light. The speed of light was the same regardless of the state of motion of the source. Special relativity showed that energy and matter are interchangeable under certain conditions. Between 1907 and 1915 Einstein developed his most elegant theory of General Relativity GR. This classical field theory combined matter and energy with three space dimensions plus one-time dimension. General relativity describes how matter and energy dynamically interact with space/time.[3] The key to this interchangeability, or “unification,” was the addition of a dimension (time).[4]
In the late twentieth century, a fast and furious series of break-troughs produced many Nobel Prize winners in Physics. Physicists Enrico Fermi developed a theory of the Weak Force WF. Sheldon Glashow proposed that the Weak Nuclear Force WNF and the EM could arise from a Partially Unified Electroweak UEW theory. Abdus Salam and Steven Weinberg independently revised Glashow’s theory of having masses for the W particle and Z particle that arise from spontaneous symmetry breaking with the Higgs mechanism. This breaking becomes short range and the Z and W bosons acquire masses of 80.4 and 91.2 GeV/c² respectively. [5] Then in 1974 Sheldon Glashow and Howard Georgi wrote papers proposing the Strong interaction and Electroweak Unification Interactions, the first Grand Unified Theory (GUT). Several proposed Grand Unified Theories make predictions for the relative strengths of the strong, weak and electromagnetic forces. In 1991 physicists at the Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEP) determined that supersymmetric theories have the correct ratio for coupling Electronuclear forces in a Grand Unified Theory.[6] Supersymmetry indeed was the key that allowed the weak and strong nuclear forces and electromagnetism to be unified.
Mathematically supersymmetry allows unification of the Electronuclear force with Gravity (TOE). The equations for determining the size of both quantum mechanics and gravity don’t allow both to coexist in theory. The equations are known but there is just not enough room for what symmetry demands. If matter is not infinitely divisible, why should energy be? The predictions look false because E/∞ ≠0 (E is not infinitely divisible). If gravity and quantum mechanics are both testable and true, there must be something wrong with their unification prediction. Point particles created problems with the equations by yielding ultra-high temperatures of the universe. Point particle models were creating incorrect models but if particles were not points then what would they be? “Through painstaking effort, John Schwartz’s team and others found that if fundamental particles function as loops of energy, what physicists call “strings,” unification theories and the entire array of physics theories – even special and general relativity, gravity and quantum mechanics – could work together.”[7] String theories do not work in just a 4D world. John Schwartz in the mid-1980’s discovered that if four dimensions had not enough room for coexistence and unity, then there must be other space dimensions that would solve the space problem. Soon Schwartz and his team built extra space-time dimension models ranging from eight to twenty-six. There soon were millions of possible solutions and the math became very complicated.
The theoretical and observational successes of supersymmetry convinced researchers that extra space dimensions must be the method used in the understanding unification of forces’. Their success in working in multiple extra spatial dimensions (other then four) led to five workable string theories. These five were seemingly separate and competing for the correct describing reality. In late 1994, while people around the world prepared to celebrate Christmas, physicists Edward Witten and Nathan Seiberg gave their own special gift to humanity. They reduced an entire field of mathematics to a single short explanation. They transformed these extremely complex equations into simple ones,[8] [9] almost as simple as the calculus equations so familiar to undergraduates. Whiten and Seiberg helped by eliminating an annoying physical absurdity from supersymmetry theory. When Witten and Seiberg introduces a hypothetical particle with mass that has the potential to become massless, the absurdity vanished.[10]
Ordinary particle equations, even though they do not involve gravity at all, involve ordinary elementary particle forces and are useful in studying and comparing the real world in situations where gravity is unimportant. By contrast, for example, string theory incorporates gravity and extra dimensions.
In March 2005 in Brookhaven National Laboratory the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) showed evidence of a string theory extra dimension. When gold atoms (hadrons) are stripped of their electrons, this creates a nuclei of gold atoms consist of 79 protons, and 118 neutrons. Both protons and neutrons are made of quarks, held together by massless, chargeless particles called gluons. (Protons contain two “up” quarks and one “down,” while neutrons have two “down” quarks and an “up.”)
When two of these gold nuclei slammed into each other head-on, they melted down into their constituent parts, an incoherent swarm of quarks and gluons. The researchers found that this occurred when the particles reached an energy of 175 million electron volts (MeV). This corresponds to about 3.7 trillion degrees Fahrenheit (2 trillion degrees Celsius), which is about 125,000 times hotter than the center of the sun. At that temperature, any hadron will be melted into leptons, photons, W boson, Z boson, Higgs boson, quarks and gluons.
Modeling the droplets produced in heavy gold nuclei ion collision, but in this case, 10 times as many jets were being absorbed as had been predicted by calculations, they observed properties of an evaporating black hole. The black hole is not a dominant force as in an astronomical black hole because the gravity is not the dominant force and quickly evaporate away – this one lasted a mere 10-23 second.[11]
The RHIC experiment showed that String theory is an important tool and has a striking success in describing collisions of heavy ion physics, quantum phase transitions which is important in studying phases of condensed matter and the more. But for Strominger’s black holes to fit neatly into string theory, black holes must become massless at critical moments. Without violating the principles of gravity, how can there be gravity without mass?
The answer was found in the spatial configuration of a black hole in extra dimensions. Strominger discovered that in six space dimensions, the mass of a particular black hole (an “extremal” black hole, one with a mass and charge so tiny as to be comparable to one of the fundamental particles) is proportional to its surface area. By making this area small enough, eventually, the mass becomes zero. To answer the question another way, special relativity (E = mc2) tells us mass and energy are interchangeable. General relativity extends this principle to space and time. When spatial lines are curled up tightly enough, mass and space become interchangeable. For the tiny black holes Strominger describes, the space curvature is certainly tight enough to accomplish this interchangeability. As if this finding weren’t enough, Strominger also discovered that his extremal black holes become massless in precisely those circumstances – and only these circumstances – necessary to eliminate the remaining physical absurdities of string theory. Black holes, which never fit into string theory before, now do fit. They fit in a way that actually solves string theory’s most perplexing problems.[12] The unification theory would still be in the dark ages if it weren’t for the power of String Theory.
As explained by Edward Witten: “We don’t understand the theory very well, but there are too many things that circumstantially look right for me to believe it’s on the right track. Standard quantum theory doesn’t work with gravity while string theory forces us to include gravity. The qualitative aspects of the elementary particles come out so neatly using string theory.”[13]
But Paul Davies says the reason many scientist hate String Theory is because they hate the Multiverse idea. The backlash has been fierce. Paul Steinhardt says the multiverse comes across as a cheap way out of formulating a unique final theory.
As a Christian I try and understand God’s Creation. I do not know of any scripture that tells of the existence of a multiverse. I am aware of physicists witnessing an extra-dimensional extremal black hole at the Brookhaven National Laboratory the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) predicted by String Theory. For me, the RHIC evidence was convincing enough for extra-dimensions to be real. Then when I look at scripture, extra-dimensional reality can explain the transcendent attributes of God’s nature. The reality of God before the beginning of our universe is manifested in His orchestrating future events before time.
Dr. R. C. Sproul explains; “God from all eternity has chosen the foolishness of preaching as the means to which He will bring his people to salvation. He doesn’t need you and He doesn’t need me but He gives to you and He gives to me the unspeakable privilege and opportunity in participating in His mission. This mission was not established not as an afterthought, after the fall of this world but the missionary endeavor of the Church and the missionary endeavor of Christ began in eternity. We call that the Covenant of Redemption. Before God made a covenant with the human race, there is a covenant in eternity among the three persons of the Godhead; Namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
And from all eternity it was the plan of God to create a world out of the cosmos and to redeem mankind in that world by sending God the Son into that world on a mission as the Father’s appointed missionary. ‘Whoever believes in me doesn’t believe in me but in the one who sent me.’ ‘He who sees me sees the Father who sent me.’ ‘I come as a light and he who believes in me should not abide in darkness.’ ‘Anyone who hears my words and does not believe, I do not judge him but those who reject me, it’s my word that will judge him in the final day.’ Jesus says to his disciples, ‘As the Father has sent me, so send I you.’”[14]
Before time started, the Triune God setting in motion the plan of “grace” suggests the possibility of some kind of dimensionality and/or temporality or the equivalent beyond the universe. (see Gen. 1:1; 2 Tim. 1-9; Titus 1:2) The declaration in Hebrews that the detectable universe was not made from that which is visible may imply the same possibility (Heb. 11:3). God is both within this time-space dimension and Transcendent, outside our universe with two or more time and four or more space dimensions of His own.
The Bible describes many extra- or transdimensional doctrines that reflect a reality beyond length, width, height and time. Some examples include the triune nature of God (three persons yet only one essence), God’s simultaneous transcendence and immanence, and the simultaneity of human free choice and divine predetermination. Scripture also contains accounts of transdimensional or extradimensional events, such as Jesus’s transfiguration (see Matt. 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36) and his physical body’s ability to enter a locked room after the resurrection (John 20:19-31). A God with the capacity to operate both within and beyond extra dimensions could make such “impossibilities” possible.[15]
In His Word we see Him interacting with his creation through His Triune Nature and His Power over trans-/extra-dimensions. This explains the Designer God from the beauty of His creation. In the beginning, God created the “heavens and the earth” (meaning the universe). The word “Create” in the Hebrew means out of nothing comes something ברא bârâ’, ex nihilo. This “out of nothing” (things not seen) appears suddenly as Matter, Energy, Space and Time. Creation comes into existence from more than one transcendent extra-dimension, from outside the universe and is manifest as a singularity (the big bang model), with space/time or four dimensions. In the beginning, at the singularity, all forces are unified and a fraction of a microsecond later, inflation of space/time, caused by a not understood force of dark energy sets in. 13.8 billion years later, galaxies formed with the aid of dark matter still hold together.
The scientific application of the dimensional differences implies that if a transcendent Creator brought this universe into existence, he could structure it with more dimensions than people can imagine. Because the Bible declares that the Creator intends his creation to reveal both his existence and nature to humans, a universe structured with more than four dimensions could be discovered. [16] Scientist are still looking deeper into the thirty year old framework of string theory to try and answer the cause of cosmic inflation. What exactly are dark matter and dark energy? Finding new insights and learning the answers to these puzzles could be for a very long time. If God wants us to discover his handiwork, that means it’s not impossible to do so.
“For that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciousness, because God [Himself] has shown it to them. Forever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So [men] are without excuse….” (see Rom. 1: 19,20 Amplified Version)God has been revealed (clearly seen) through the things that are “Made” עשׂה ‛āśâh (from the Hebrew means out of existing materials) and there is no excuse for anyone to say they do not know God’s works (nature). What is being asked concerning God’s existence is, examine His creation; then either believe it is His workmanship in nature or be an unbeliever of Him. If anyone chooses to not even examine the evidence, such as the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation CMB, (the remnant from the big bang model) he has chosen unbelief. This was exactly the choice Church leaders were given when they were invited to look through Galileo’s telescope; they, because of their unbelief, refused to even look through it to see if there were moons around Jupiter, for fear the Earth was not found to be the center of the universe. And somehow that fact would prove the Bible not true? It turns out they had the wrong interpretation of the words of the Bible in their minds. They totally missed the purpose of Why the Universe? They didn’t let Nature and Science speak volumes of complexities and top-down perplexities to prove God’s Existence.
Notice then, there is no thanks for what is seen as God’s creation. Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened. ( Rom. 1: 21 Amplified Version)
Dr. Lon Allison from the Billy Graham Institute said, “When science helps us understand the complexity, the order, and beauty of the heavens, the earth, and the human being, it becomes much easier to then suggest that there must have been a purpose for it all. Once you get to the purpose questions, you start talking about a personal God and what the whole reason for existence is about, which is theology. So the science leads us right to good theology.”[17]
Pursuit For Truth 