It is well known that quantum theory is ridden with foundational problems such as the measurement problem, nonlocality, wavefunction collapse, etc. Moreover, it seems that all those problems continue to persist even in relativistic quantum field theory. However, does string theory help resolve or understand those foundational problems in any manner?
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4$\begingroup$ Those are problems with quantum mechanical treatments of everything. Including relativistic strings. $\endgroup$– Connor BehanAug 24, 2022 at 14:10
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3$\begingroup$ There are no foundational problems with quantum mechanics. None of the things you mentioned are problems at all. Further, string theory is simply a special type of quantum theory so any feature of quantum mechanics is most definitely also a feature of string theory. $\endgroup$– PraharAug 24, 2022 at 17:10
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2$\begingroup$ @Prahar: Thanks, but I don't quite agree. It would be long debate that we could perhaps have elsewhere. But I found this answer by Peter Shor quite interesting and insightful: physics.stackexchange.com/a/4152/92343 $\endgroup$– Girish KulkarniAug 24, 2022 at 17:23
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2$\begingroup$ For the uninitiated, here is a short and nice book that describes the foundational issues in quantum theory quite well: amazon.com/Foundations-Quantum-Mechanics-Elements-Philosophy/dp/… $\endgroup$– Girish KulkarniAug 24, 2022 at 18:01
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1$\begingroup$ The measurement problem and wavefunction collapse are problems with the Copenhagen interpretation specifically. It doesn't really emerge if you are willing to abandon the idea of point-particles and embrace wave-mechanics as fundamental, which isn't such a big sacrifice as point particles never made much sense to begin with. QFT does go some way to expanding on that idea with the concept of fields (no one takes Copenhagen seriously these days). Nonlocality is problematic as it doesn't play nice with relativity, but you could just as well argue that it's relativity's problem. $\endgroup$– Matt ThompsonAug 25, 2022 at 4:39
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2 Answers
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String Theory builds on the same foundation laid by QFT, which builds on the same foundation laid in QM. Generally the laws that yield probabilities - which lead to scattering cross sections - are the same in these theories. They share the same general framework, and the notion of "measurement" is not any more well-defined in any of them.
answered Aug 24, 2022 at 20:57
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String theory is a discredited paradigm, that in 50 years of sisyphean effort involving thousands of acolytes has not yielded a single verifiable prediction. As such it is incapable of shedding light on anything except the sociology of scientific fads.
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2$\begingroup$ "String theory is a discredited paradigm" - citation needed $\endgroup$– JojoAug 25, 2022 at 7:10
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2$\begingroup$ @Joe: Not Even Wrong, An Unlikely Broken Box, science's ultimate dead end,... $\endgroup$– TonyKAug 25, 2022 at 10:33
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$\begingroup$ These look like pop science opinion pieces. Strong theory $\endgroup$– JojoAug 26, 2022 at 8:43
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2$\begingroup$ These look like pop science opinion pieces. String theory is relevant to empirical and theoretical physics in a number of ways; arxiv.org/abs/1706.02790, arxiv.org/abs/2203.13017 $\endgroup$– JojoAug 26, 2022 at 9:27