06-07-2005, 02:52 PM
ohwilleke
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado

As I understand it, many models, including the "Standard Model" see mass as a characteristic of a particle that arises from its interaction with a "Higgs field". Hence, one way you could have a string that is non-massive would be to have a string which interacts with the Higgs field only in certain modes.

08:10 AM
Chris Walters
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Florida

Read my Journal Hello ohwilleke and Pengwuino if we accept the idea that particles and energy might be made to strings then who or what would set up an experiment to see if a machine could cause enough vibration to upset a higgs field or particle. What type of machine generating what cycle of vibration would separate the strings in a particle?

Yesterday, 08:55 AM
selfAdjoint
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Wisconsin USA
Posts: 5,858

The energy required to do that is far, far above anything we can hope to generate in the foreseeable future. In quantum mechanics, the smaller the arena of your physical action, the higher the energy required to do anything. And strings are really tiny, many powers of ten smaller than a proton. This is the main reason string theory isn't testable. The other reason is that it doesn't make any clear predictions.

08:10 AM
Ouabache
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: in a pensieve

Read my Journal It has been a while since I last read Hyperspace. (yes i have read it more than once)..I do enjoy reading about physics but am no physicist. (though I am trained in one of the applied areas "electrical engineering"). Therefore before sharing my opinions, lets address your question with a quote by Michio Kaku on the Theory of Everything I have italicized and highlit chosen words for emphasis. (follow the hyperlink to see his whole article)Quote:

Superstring theory says that, if we had a supermicroscope and could peer at an electron, we would see a string vibrating in a certain mode. The string is extremely small. (So small) that the electron looks like a point particle to us. If we shake the string, so it vibrates in a different mode, then the electron can turn into something else, such as a quark, the fundamental constituent of protons and neutrons. Shake it again, and the string could vibrate in the mode which describes photons (the quanta of light). Shake it again and it turns into a graviton (the quanta of gravity).

From his discussion, we may say that the same string vibrating in a different way (mode), generates a different fundamental particle (e.g. electron, quark, photon, graviton). Modes are fundamental patterns of vibration. Using this analogy it is clear how the same string can represent different particles. As a sidenote, we know photons behave not only as particles but also as waves. Varying the wavelength of light yields different frequencies (in the visible spectrum we perceive them as different colors). In Kaku's description, it is not apparent how the same string can represent different frequencies of light. My own thought is, perhaps light frequencies are expressed by a nonfundamental or complex vibrational mode (analogous to a complex wave in sound, such as a musical chord).

Yesterday, 08:48 PM
selfAdjoint
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Wisconsin USA

Originally Posted by Ouabache As a sidenote, we know photons behave not only as particles but also as waves. Varying the wavelength of light yields different frequencies (in the visible spectrum we perceive them as different colors). In Kaku's description, it is not apparent how the same string can represent different frequencies of light. My own thought is, perhaps light frequencies are expressed by a nonfundamental or complex vibrational mode (analogous to a complex wave in sound, such as a musical chord).

Perhaps instead of using the wave represention of photons it would help to use the particle representation. Then the color is proportionsal to the momentum of the particle. Now the vibration modes of the string carry, indeed are indexed by momentum - that is string momentum. But I could see how that momentum could effect the momentum of the particle generated by the mode.

It has to be said here that the simple picture given by Kaku has never really generated a photon or any other common particle. Stringy attempts to do that are much more complex, involving many strings, as well as branes. These attempts have not really succeeded either, but they are continually getting closer.

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