Great Power Heavy Industry: Rise

Chapter 106 Popular Science: Grand Unified Theory

(Readers who don’t like it or already know the relevant knowledge can skip this chapter directly)
Grand unified theories (GUTs), referred to as GUT, is also known as the principle of all things, and some people call it grand unified theory.

Because there are only four interaction forces between microscopic particles, gravitational force, electromagnetic force, strong interaction force, and weak interaction force.

In theory, all phenomena in the universe can be explained by these four forces.

By further studying the connection and unification of the four forces, looking for a theory or model that can explain the four forces in a unified way is called the Grand Unified Theory.

It should be pointed out that the unified theory has not yet been finally verified.

Moreover, Hawking also pointed out in "A Brief History of Time" that a grand unified theory may be discovered, but this grand unified theory is not the grand unified theory that Einstein originally thought.

Because it is impossible to describe and predict everything in the universe through a simple and beautiful formula, after all, the universe is a unity of certainty and uncertainty.

As early as the 20s, the famous physicist Einstein was committed to finding a unified theory to explain all interactions, which can also be said to explain all physical phenomena.

Because he believes that the concept of "unity" in natural science is perhaps the most basic law.

It can even be said that in Einstein's philosophy, the concept of "unity" is deeply rooted. He firmly believed that "the natural world should satisfy the principle of simplicity".

Shortly after proposing the theory of relativity in the 30s, Einstein began to study the "grand unified theory".

Trying to simply explain the universe through the unified thinking of "weak interaction, magnetic field, and strong interaction", and further unify the four interactions discovered at that time into a theoretical framework, so as to find the root of these four interactions.

This work lasted until his death in 1955, and almost exhausted his energy for the rest of his life, and the unified thinking was inconsistent with the mainstream thinking in the physics world at that time, so that some historians of science asserted that this was a major mistake of Einstein .

There are four kinds of interactions in nature, in addition to gravitational interactions and electromagnetic interactions, there are strong interactions and weak interactions.

These 4 kinds of interaction strengths and scopes are very different, and also very different.

The strength of gravitation is only 100/[-] trillion billion billion billion of that of the strong interaction force, but the range of gravity is very large. Theoretically, it can extend to infinite places. Gravity is a long-range force.

However, the range of the strong interaction force is very small, only one ten-trillionth of 1 centimeter, so the strong interaction force is a short-range force.

The weak interaction force is also a short-range force, the force range is less than one trillionth of a centimeter, and the strength is one trillionth of the strong interaction force.

Electromagnetic force is a long-range force like gravity, but its strength is much greater than gravity, which is 1/137 of the strong interaction force.

The four kinds of interactions seem to have obvious differences in nature, but scientists are thinking: Why do these four kinds of interactions exist in nature?
Do these four interaction forces have only differences but nothing in common?

Can these four kinds of interaction force be explained uniformly under certain conditions?
From the perspective of the history of science, the first person who thought seriously and put it into action was the physicist Einstein.

In the past hundred years, countless scientists have conducted research.

What really becomes a problem is a very contradictory viewpoint: the so-called grand unified theory first reflects only an ideological intention and subjective wish of people about physics.

As for what or how the real content of the grand unified theory is, no one may know.

Moreover, we also believe that this is the most basic understanding of the Grand Unified Theory. Without this most basic ideological understanding, all the basic understandings of the Grand Unified Theory will be divorced from reality.

Therefore, the predecessors' exploration of the unified field theory may just be people following their feelings, but the true face of the matter is far from being understood by people.

For example, an extremely serious problem may be a unified field theory or a grand unified theory, not necessarily the mechanical unification of the four natural forces of strong interaction, weak interaction, electromagnetic interaction and universal gravitation on the basis of current physics.

A grand unified theory that integrates all physics into a grand synthesis is not necessarily a mechanical combination that applies mathematical methods to make unified physical knowledge, and so on.

In short, we estimate that it is entirely possible that people’s previous research on the unified field theory made mistakes in the starting point of the research object, method, standpoint and perspective.

And if we want to succeed in the research of grand unified theory, we may first have to explore a new path for the development of physics that is compatible with objective facts.

The breakthrough of the grand unified theory will be a fundamental breakthrough in the history of human science and technology. It will enable human beings to truly understand the nature of the universe we live in, and the vast space of the universe will no longer be an obstacle for human beings.

But from my own point of view, our generations should not see this day.

(End of this chapter)