Garrett Lisi and The Theory Of Everything

Posted by: Laurie Fish on September 7, 2010 at 3:49PM
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Garrett Lisi Lives Within a World of Possibilities.

In his world all of those possibilities are expanding and developing at once. As a physicist he attempts to advance a new unified theory explaining the inner workings of our universe. His focus: the forces caused by constantly pulsing particles billions of times smaller than atoms. He expresses this idea by using a beautifully intricate geometric pattern – the E8 lie(pronounced 'lee'). Its base is a 4 dimensional surface – space-time. Lisi believes the relationships of its symmetries correspond to known particles and forces, including gravity. It is in this 248 dimensional geometric shape where Lisi hopes to find the illusive graviton.

Defying Gravity.

A unifying theory has alluded physicists for some time. Many of the most world renown theoretical physycists have stopped looking. Garrett Lisi, makes a bold play by introducing a new theory. The theory of everything. Physicist, Dr. Lee Smolin, describes Lisi as a scientist with the much needed audacity to formulate a high risk, high payoff discovery. Dr. Smolin was recently interviewed for the series Through The Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. He admits that "Most physicists have given up working for a unique unification within a beautiful mathematical structure." And the E8 is indeed beautiful.

Talking To Coral - It's a Surfer Dude Thing

When speaking at the 2008 TED conference Lisi opens his session by describing of all things, coral. When Garrett Lisi isn't trying to mathematically unlock the interworkings of the universe, he is riding the waves of Maui. An avid surfer, Lisi knows quite a bit about coral.

Coral Would Have a Unique Perspective on Quantum Theory.

Each coral head consists of thousands of individual polyps continually budding and branching into genetically identical neighbors. Lisi poses a question to this hypothetically intelligent little polyp. How is it you came to be in that particular location? Was it chance or destiny? The coral explains,(this is a very smart coral) All identical copies are experiencing the same reality as separate individuals. They are exact copies living in a different space but experiencing the same as their counterpart – in this way they live out all the possibilities simultaneously – this is the idea behind quantum mechanics. It is difficult for most of us to understand this – we aren’t intelligent coral afterall - Our reality is continuously branching into different possibilities but we only get to experience one. We only experience an individual reality from one location. We are bound by our life form.

A Balance In The Universe

Mathematics of quantum mechanics states that everything that can happen – does. But not everything can happen. There are some underlying rules. There is a perfectly balanced interaction of elementary particles set in a precise pattern that can be expressed through geometry.

An Extension of the Grand Unification Theory.

Lisi's theory is an extension of the Grand Unification Theory. When scientists came to understand that there are weak and strong forces they saw how they may be able to come together under one theory. But the graviton could not fit into the geometrical framework. Garrett attempts to put all the forces of nature into a single mathematical framework. He considered the algebraic structure. And wondered if it could be understood as a whole – if the entire structure can be described as a larger lie group.

A lie group is a mathematical shape - a collection of circles twisting around each other in a specific pattern. The simplest lie group is a single circle. So Garrett twisted circles adding to the group until it was a 248 dimensional shape - the E8 lie. Each one of these circles can be associated with a different kind of elementary particle. One corresponding to electrons, another to force particles or photons, another, strong force particles or gluons. Garrett found sets of circles within the E8 that could represent gravitons.

Garrett Lisi’s E8 lie predicts several undiscovered particles and may reveal another illusive player - the Higgs field. Some parts in this E8 lie, are not clearly elementary particle forces but what you need to describe the higgs field – a geometric particle field - a field allegedly responsible for the genesis of inertial mass which influences the mass of all known elementary particles. But this is a subject for another post entirely, and they call this theoretical physics for a reason. No one has definitive proof about how any of this works.

How Do You Prove It.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva is a 17 mile long particle collider, where scientists are attempting to prove how the four fundamental forces work. There is electromagnetism carried by photons, strong force carried by gluons, weak forces carried by particles called the w and z bosons and then, there is the never before detected graviton - the force for gravity. Atoms are smashed together producing a spray of particles. Sensitive equipment detect the outcome. The LHC has the potential to push energy limits 7 times beyond what has ever been done before and hopepfully detect particles yet unseen.

Realizing the Possibilities.

At this time, we have no idea whether Lisi is on the right track. Some dismiss the theory outright. Others wait tentatively while scientists around the world attempt to prove or disprove it. Lisi himself admits the risk. But it’s not really about the right or wrong of it. It's about the tenacious curiosity that drives Lisi and others to continue this work, without which the world would still be flat, the earth still the center of the universe, and humans still securely grounded on this planet.