Old Ideas for New Physicists III: String Theory Parameters are NOT Vacuum Expectation Values

2025/01/29 by Tom Banks, Banks, T. · 5 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Computational Physics and Python Applications #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #International Science and Diplomacy #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2501.17697

openalex publication_date 2025/01/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

I review, for the benefit of younger physicists, arguments proposed at the beginning of the 21st century, which show that it is misleading to think of the parameters in string theory models of quantum gravity as vacuum expectation values of fields.

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