Will the String Theory Tie Them All Together?

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firaq:

Thanks for your comments. No, I am not a string theorist. I am a civil engineer. My knowledge of string theory is based on popular physics books, some of them written by professional physicists. I am usually careful in stating facts as accurately as is possible for a civil engineer and sometimes supprt such statements with appropriate references. (Engineers are notorious for approximations but not fabrications. I had a German Professor who taught us Theory of Structures and Strength of Materials. He used to say that 2+2 is never 4 for engineeres; it`s either 3.99999999 or 4.00000001). By the way the perturbative methods are also approximate.

1. Regarding the collision of branes, you are correct; I alluded to the work of Steinhardt et al but I may not be wrong in assuming that Ed. Witten also supported this line of thought. Things are still in a state of flux in the field of string theory. My knowledge is by no means up-to-date or comprehensive; it`s however derived from the facts published by the physicists.

2. Vafa`s theory is said to be based on ten dimensions of space and two of time. The concept of two dimensional time is an `oddity` and not very popular with majority of the physicists. Vafa`s theory is still a tentative idea. I can come up with a reference in support of two dimensional time; I learned it from published material.

Wishing you well,

Mohammad Gill