I've seen many articles about the string theory and have a very simple question : I'd like to know how many Strings are in a quark or an electron?
1 Answer
There are a lot of different ways to get quantum field theories that look like the Standard Model in string theory. In some string theory models (such as the heterotic models), every particle that the Standard Model treats as point-like (electrons, quarks, etc) is a single elementary string. But there are other more complicated models in which the standard model particles are not built out of strings at all, but instead realized as the low energy excitations of D-branes wrapped around various kinds of singularities.
We don't know which (if any) of these models is actually correct, so we can't say with certainty that string theory predicts that an electron is made up of some number N of strings.
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$\begingroup$ there is a lot of 'We don't know' in string theory, anyway thank you for your answer :) $\endgroup$– DiptoxCommented Feb 28, 2013 at 15:03
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$\begingroup$ Yes, there is. It's a difficult project. The popular science press sometimes presents the work of string theorists as a series of triumphs, but the truth is that most of the questions that have been answered are easy ones. $\endgroup$– user1504Commented Feb 28, 2013 at 15:19