M理论：所有超弦之母.doc

M理论：所有超弦之母 An introduction to M-Theory对M理论简介 Every decade or so, a stunning breakthrough in string theory sends shock waves racing through the theoretical physics community, generating a feverish outpouring of papers and activity.每10年左右，一个惊人的突破，在弦理论发送冲击波通过理论物理学界的比赛，产生的文件和活动的狂热爆发。 This time, the Internet lines are burning up as papers keep pouring into the Los Alamos National Laboratory's computer bulletin board, the official clearing house for superstring papers.这一次，互联网线烧起来的文件保存到洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室的计算机公告板，官方结算所浇筑超弦理论文件。 John Schwarz of Caltech, for example, has been speaking to conferences around the world proclaiming the “second superstring revolution.” Edward Witten of the Institute for Advanced Study in Prince- ton gave a spell-binding 3 hour lecture describing it.约翰施瓦茨美国加州理工学院，例如，已被周围的会议发言，宣布“第二超弦理论革命的世界。”爱德华王子在吨威滕高等研究院发表了神魂颠倒，3个小时的演讲描述它。 The after- shocks of the breakthrough are even shaking other disciplines, like mathematics.离职后的突破冲击，甚至动摇，如数学等学科。 The director of the Institute, mathematician Phillip Griffiths, says, “The excitement I sense in the people in the field and the spin-offs into my own field of mathematics … have really been quite extraordinary.该研究所所长，数学家菲利普格里菲思说：“我的兴奋感在外地的人，到我自己的数学领域中的副产品...真的是很了不起的。 I feel I've been very privileged to witness this first hand.”我觉得我已经很荣幸地见证这个第一手资料。“ Cumrun Vafa at Harvard has said, “I may be biased on this one, but I think it is perhaps the most important development not only in string theory, but also in theoretical physics at least in the past two decades.” What is triggering all this excitement is the discovery of something called “M-theory,” a theory which may explain the origin of strings. Cumrun哈佛大学瓦法说，“我可能是有偏见的这一个，但我想这也许是不仅在弦理论的最重要的发展，但至少在过去20年在理论物理也。”什么是触发所有这是兴奋的事发现所谓的“M -理论”的理论可能解释字符串的来源。 In one dazzling stroke, this new M-theory has solved a series of long-standing puzzling mysteries about string theory which have dogged it from the beginning, leaving many theoretical physicists (myself included!) gasping for br