Strings (conference)
{{Short description|Physics conference held annually}}
File:Gross Witten Hawking TIFR 2001.jpg, Edward Witten, and Stephen Hawking]]
Strings is a series of international conferences on the topic of string theory and quantum gravity, held annually since 1988. It is a key event for the string theory community. In 2004, it gathered about 400 participants, with several more online.{{Cite web |last=cern |date=2024-09-24 |title=An intricate web of interconnected strings |url=https://cerncourier.com/a/an-intricate-web-of-interconnected-strings/ |access-date=2025-01-28 |website=CERN Courier |language=en-US}} Important topics in string theory have been introduced for the first time during these conferences.
History
{{See also|History of string theory}}
The first conference, Strings '88 was held from May 24 to 28, 1988 at the University of Maryland, College Park. It was inspired by the International Workshop on Strings, Composite Structures and Cosmology held in the same venue a year before.{{Cite book |last=Gates |first=S. James |url= |title=Strings '88: May 24-28, 1988, University of Maryland at College Park |date=1989 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-9971-5-0766-4 |language=en}}
The conferences were not that promising at first and some scientists suggested to stop the annual meetings, however it gained popularity in the 1990s.{{Cite book |last=Greene |first=Brian |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/The_Elegant_Universe_Superstrings_Hidden/8mPOAtP2gz4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=strings+conferences&pg=PA298&printsec=frontcover |title=The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory |date=2003-09-30 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-05858-1 |language=en}} During Strings '95. Edward Witten discussed the concept of M-theory, sparking the second superstring revolution.{{Cite book |last=Rickles |first=Dean |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/A_Brief_History_of_String_Theory/Ud64BAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=second+superstring+revolution&printsec=frontcover |title=A Brief History of String Theory: From Dual Models to M-Theory |date=2014-02-18 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-642-45128-7 |language=en}} In Strings '96, Tom Banks, Willy Fischler, Stephen Shenker, and Leonard Susskind introduced matrix theory;{{Cite book |last=Polchinski |first=Joseph |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Memories_of_a_Theoretical_Physicist/BrxNEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=Memories of a Theoretical Physicist: A Journey across the Landscape of Strings, Black Holes, and the Multiverse |date=2022-05-24 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-54344-6 |language=en}} and during Strings '98, Jeffrey A. Harvey composed a song to celebrate Juan Maldacena recent discovery of AdS/CFT correspondence.{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=George |date=1998-09-22 |title=New Dimension in Dance: Thinking Man's Macarena |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/22/science/new-dimension-in-dance-thinking-man-s-macarena.html |access-date=2025-01-28 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite book |last=Conlon |first=Joseph |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Why_String_Theory/F5DwCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=why+string+theory+banquet&pg=PA115&printsec=frontcover |title=Why String Theory? |date=2016-08-19 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4822-4249-2 |language=en}}
= Physics Problems for the Next Millenium =
During the Strings 2000, participants proposed and selected a "Top Ten Problems in Fundamental Physics for the Next Millenium", similar to the Millennium Prize Problems in mathematics.{{Cite web |title=Strings 2000 Conference - Physics Problems for the Next Millennium |url=https://www.preskill.caltech.edu/millennium.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250120195458/https://www.preskill.caltech.edu/millennium.html |archive-date=2025-01-20 |access-date=2025-01-28 |website=www.preskill.caltech.edu |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Duff |first=M. J. |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Strings/RVhqDQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=strings+conferences+preface&pg=PR5&printsec=frontcover |title=Strings: Proceedings of the 2000 International Superstrings Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, July 10-15, 2000 |last2=Liu |first2=James T. |last3=Lu |first3=Jianxin |date=2001 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-981-02-4509-2 |language=en}} The problems are:
| class="wikitable"
|+ !# !Statement !Proponents |
| 1
|Are all the (measurable) dimensionless parameters that characterize the physical universe calculable in principle or are some merely determined by historical or quantum mechanical accident and uncalculable? |
| 2
|How can quantum gravity help explain the origin of the universe? |
| 3
|What is the lifetime of the proton and how do we understand it? |
| 4
|Is Nature supersymmetric, and if so, how is supersymmetry broken? |
| 5
|Why does the universe appear to have one time and three space dimensions? |
| 6
|Why does the cosmological constant have the value that it has, is it zero and is it really constant? |
| 7
|What are the fundamental degrees of freedom of M-theory (the theory whose low-energy limit is eleven-dimensional supergravity and which subsumes the five consistent superstring theories) and does the theory describe Nature? |Louise Dolan, Annamaria Sinkovics, and Billy & Linda Rose |
| 8
|What is the resolution of the black hole information paradox? |Tibra Ali and Samir D. Mathur |
| 9
|What physics explains the enormous disparity between the gravitational scale and the typical mass scale of the elementary particles? |
| 10
|Can we quantitatively understand quark and gluon confinement in Quantum Chromodynamics and the existence of a mass gap? |Igor Klebanov and Oyvind Tafjord |
List of conferences
Here is a list of Strings conferences:{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Past Strings Conferences |url=https://indico.cern.ch/event/1284995/page/30159-past-strings-conferences |website=String Conference 2024 CERN}}{{Cite web |title=Strings 2025 Past Conferences |url=https://nyuad.shorthandstories.com/strings-conference-abu-dhabi/past-conferences/ |access-date=2025-01-28 |website=nyuad.shorthandstories.com |language=en}}