Submission + - Surfer / physicist works out E8-based unification
Doofus writes: New Scientist and the UK's Daily Telegraph are reporting on the work of A. Garrett Lisi, a surfer, snowboarder, and theoretical physicist who has worked out a contender for a "fabulous" unification theory.
Lisi's work builds on the work of a large group of mathematicians who, earlier this year (see "Is this the fabric of the universe?, worked out the complete definition of E8. From today's Telegraph:
If Lisi's work holds up to extensive peer review, all of the string theorists will be looking for work soon, so look out.
Lisi's work builds on the work of a large group of mathematicians who, earlier this year (see "Is this the fabric of the universe?, worked out the complete definition of E8. From today's Telegraph:
E8 encapsulates the symmetries of a geometric object that is 57-dimensional and is itself is 248-dimensional. Lisi says "I think our universe is this beautiful shape."
What makes E8 so exciting is that Nature also seems to have embedded it at the heart of many bits of physics. One interpretation of why we have such a quirky list of fundamental particles is because they all result from different facets of the strange symmetries of E8.
Lisi's breakthrough came when he noticed that some of the equations describing E8's structure matched his own. "My brain exploded with the implications and the beauty of the thing," he tells New Scientist. "I thought: 'Holy crap, that's it!'"
If Lisi's work holds up to extensive peer review, all of the string theorists will be looking for work soon, so look out.
