In This Topic
Looking back beyond the big bang theory Tying black holes to string theory
Knowing where the universe has been and where it may be going Tackling the question of how the universe supports life
7hough string theory started as a theory of particle physics, much of the significant theoretical work today is in applying the startling predictions of string theory and M-theory to the field of cosmology. topic 9 covered some of the amazing facts science has discovered about our universe, especially in the last century.
In this topic, I return to these same ideas from the background of string theory. I explain how string theory relates to our understanding of the big bang, the theory of the universe’s origin. I then discuss what string theory has to say about another mystery of the universe — black holes. From there, I cover what string theory reveals about how the universe changes over time and how it may change in the future. Finally, I return to the question of why the universe seems perfectly tuned to allow for life and what, if anything, string theory (along with the anthropic principle) may have to say about it.
