Posted: Oct 14, 2019 5:43 pm
Re: M-Theory ...
I've covered in the past, two papers by Steinhardt & Turok, which postulate a mechanism for the instantiation of the observable universe via brane collisions. Those papers contain a testable prediction that doesn't need outlandishly huge particle accelerators.
We now have working gravitational wave detectors. Already, these instruments are obtaining data on events such as black hole collisions, that simply wasn't available before. Now, at some point in the future, scientists will discover how to differentiate between primordial gravitational waves (namely, gravitational waves arising from processes that instantiated the current observable universe) and gravitational waves of more recent origin, just as we can differentiate between EM radiation of more recent vintage and the CMB.
Once that learning curve is traversed, one of the results scientists will set out to test, is the Steinhardt-Turok prediction. Which works as follows.
Plot a graph, with the wavelength of gravitational waves on the x axis, and the frequency of occurrence of gravitational waves on the y axis, using primordial gravitational wave data (once we know how to obtain it of course). The resulting curve will be the power spectrum curve for primordial gravitational waves. The simplest case is for that curve to be a horizontal line, meaning that primordial gravitational waves were produced in the past in equal amounts right across the wavelength range. Steinhardt & Turok predict a different shape for that power spectrum curve - one in which the short wavelengths are produced more abundantly than the long wavelengths.
Consequently, the moment we are able to collect the data on primordial gravitational waves, we'll have a direct empirical test of Steinhardt & Turok's ideas. If the power spectrum curve differs significantly from their prediction, it's back to the drawing board. If that power spectrum curve matches their prediction, they pick up a Nobel.
I've covered in the past, two papers by Steinhardt & Turok, which postulate a mechanism for the instantiation of the observable universe via brane collisions. Those papers contain a testable prediction that doesn't need outlandishly huge particle accelerators.
We now have working gravitational wave detectors. Already, these instruments are obtaining data on events such as black hole collisions, that simply wasn't available before. Now, at some point in the future, scientists will discover how to differentiate between primordial gravitational waves (namely, gravitational waves arising from processes that instantiated the current observable universe) and gravitational waves of more recent origin, just as we can differentiate between EM radiation of more recent vintage and the CMB.
Once that learning curve is traversed, one of the results scientists will set out to test, is the Steinhardt-Turok prediction. Which works as follows.
Plot a graph, with the wavelength of gravitational waves on the x axis, and the frequency of occurrence of gravitational waves on the y axis, using primordial gravitational wave data (once we know how to obtain it of course). The resulting curve will be the power spectrum curve for primordial gravitational waves. The simplest case is for that curve to be a horizontal line, meaning that primordial gravitational waves were produced in the past in equal amounts right across the wavelength range. Steinhardt & Turok predict a different shape for that power spectrum curve - one in which the short wavelengths are produced more abundantly than the long wavelengths.
Consequently, the moment we are able to collect the data on primordial gravitational waves, we'll have a direct empirical test of Steinhardt & Turok's ideas. If the power spectrum curve differs significantly from their prediction, it's back to the drawing board. If that power spectrum curve matches their prediction, they pick up a Nobel.