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THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE, Brian Greene, 1999, 2003
```(annotated and with added bold highlights by Epsilon=One)
```(annotated and with added bold highlights by Epsilon=One)
Chapter 12 - Beyond Strings: In Search of M-Theory
The Overall Picture
We can now more fully understand the two figures—Figures 12.1 and 12.2—that we introduced in the beginning of this chapter to summarize the essential points. In Figure 12.1 we see that prior to 1995, without taking any dualities into account, we had five apparently distinct string theories. Various physicists worked on each, but without an understanding of the dualities they appeared to be different theories. Each of the theories had variable features such as the size of their coupling constant and the geometrical form and sizes of curled-up dimensions. The hope was (and still is) that these defining properties would be determined by the theory itself, but without the ability to determine them with the current approximate equations, physicists have naturally studied the physics that follows from a range of possibilities. This is represented in Figure 12.1 by the shaded regions—each point in such a region denotes one specific choice for the coupling constant and the curled-up geometry. Without invoking any dualities, we still have five disjointed (collections of) theories.
But now, if we apply all of the dualities we have discussed, then as we vary the coupling and geometric parameters, we can pass from any one theory to any other, so long as we also include the unifying central region of M-theory; this is shown in Figure 12.2. Even though we have only a scant understanding of M-theory, these indirect arguments lend strong support to the claim that it provides a unifying substrate for our five naively distinct string theories. Moreover, we have learned that M-theory is closely related to yet a sixth theory—eleven-dimensional supergravity—and this is recorded in Figure 12.11, a more precise version of Figure 12.2. 13
But now, if we apply all of the dualities we have discussed, then as we vary the coupling and geometric parameters, we can pass from any one theory to any other, so long as we also include the unifying central region of M-theory; this is shown in Figure 12.2. Even though we have only a scant understanding of M-theory, these indirect arguments lend strong support to the claim that it provides a unifying substrate for our five naively distinct string theories. Moreover, we have learned that M-theory is closely related to yet a sixth theory—eleven-dimensional supergravity—and this is recorded in Figure 12.11, a more precise version of Figure 12.2. 13
Figure 12.11 By incorporating the dualities, all five string theories, eleven-dimensional supergravity, and M-theory are merged together into a unified framework.
Figure 12.11 illustrates that the fundamental ideas and equations of M-theory, although only partially understood at the moment, unify those of all of the formulations of string theory. M-theory is the theoretical elephant that has opened the eyes of string theorists to a far grander unifying framework.