Recent content by S Beck

Thanks for the reply. Assuming that 'fundamental' refers to my question on if M Theory is more fundamental than String Theory then it answers the main question and I appreciate it. But what about the M2 and M5 branes? If they are solitonic then how can they be fundamental objects? Or am I...

M-Theory is a theory of membranes which are the fundamental objects of the theory (M2 and M5 branes), however these objects are considered solitons, solutions of supergravity. How can membranes be "fundamental" if they are solitonic solutions of supergravity? Or am I missing something? And is...

So for an idea in terms of spacetime atoms, what would you expect spacetime to be? Some analogy of a block or crystal of condensed matter?

Uh, sorry but I don't know what you're talking about. OT: There is also a superfluid vacuum theory that treats space as a superfluid.

Nima Arkani-Hamed probably thinks along the lines of some geometry, like the amplituhedron, to underlie spacetime. See: https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-discover-geometry-underlying-particle-physics-20130917

LQG treats space and time as discrete, and in the future, possibly emergent from something more fundamental. String theorists also say spacetime is emergent. Nima Arkani-Hamed is vocal about "spacetime is doomed." But as of now I don't have a single clue what gives rise to spacetime.

Some physicists, like Nima, Ed. Witten, Gross, and others have said/suggested that space-time is doomed, or emergent from something more fundamental. What ideas would replace space-time? Something similar to a perfect material? A fluid? Geometry? Quantum field theory of some sort? Entanglement...

A particle is found localized when one measures it, and a wave function is not a wave but a probability of finding a particle. Nobody has observed a particle smeared at sizes. When a photon of a low frequency is absorbed it still doesn't excite a bunch of molecules, does it? So the MM...

This quantum field is not obvious or even directly observed, but some ghostly aether exists is the impression I am getting. All we observe are particles and their interactions and objects made of them, not invisible continuous aether like structures.

They are not, then what is a photon?

Photons are point-like particles with no size, but they have different frequencies. Photons with certain frequencies (like microwave photons) can not pass through the holes of the mesh on a microwave oven, so this confuses me. Photons seem to act like they have size at low frequencies. I have...

Thanks for the informative and great response. Yes I agree that both viewpoints, though contradictory, have legitimate points supporting them. "However, the most careful observations showed that the speed of light remained constant no matter how fast we were moving or in what direction." Most...

Electrons' spin state is responsible for magnetism inside a magnet. Two magnets interact at a distance, but what about the space between and around the two magnetic objects? In CM there are field lines and vector fields, but what is actually happening at the QM level?

EM waves can propagate through empty space, but there is also the EM field. Is this field really empty space or is there something that exists that the light wave disturbs, like some kind of fluid? In areas of space where values of the field is 0, is this like empty space or more like calm...

Actually I have read science articles explaining photons as electromagnetic waves. I should've bookmarked them and linked them here, but this is why I asked such a question. Fair enough. This is all I asked if an EM wave is a photon. I got my answer. To ask a seemingly simple question? Don't...