Three Roads to Quantum Gravity

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1、“Itwouldbehardtoimagineabetterguidetothisdifficultsubject.”PHYSICS—SCIENTIFICAMERICANTheHolyGrailofmodernphysicsisthetheoryof“quantumgravity.”ItisasearchforaviewoftheUniversethatunitestwoseeminglyopposedpillarsofmodernscience:Einstein’stheoryofgeneralrelativity,whichdealswi

2、thlargescalephenomenalikeplanets,solarsystemsandgalaxies,andquantumtheory,whichdealswiththeworldoftheverysmall—molecules,atomsandelectrons.Inthelastfewyearsphysicistshavemadestepstowardtheirgoalofacompletelynewtheoryofspace,timeandtheuniverse,a“theoryofeverything.”InThreeRo

3、adstoQuantumGravity,LeeSmolin,whohasspenthiscareerattheforefrontofthesenewdiscoveries,presentsforthefirsttimethemainideasbehindthenewdevelopmentsthathavebroughtaquantumtheoryofgravityinsight.Writtenwithexceptionalstyleandclarity,ThreeRoadstoQuantumGravityconfrontsthedeepest

4、questionsofthenatureoftheuniverseandprovidesapreviewofsomeoftheremarkablescientificdevelopmentswecanlookforwardtointhetwenty-firstcentury.PraiseforTHREEROADSTOQUANTUMGRAVITY“[Smolin]argueslucidlyandeffectively….ThisisadeeplyphilosophicalworkOHENthatasksustorethinktheepistem

5、ologicalrootsofthementalpicturesweCmakeaboutnature.—NEWYORKTIMESBOOKREVIEWARCM“Absolutelycompelling…LeeSmolinisoneofasmallhandfulofphysicistsaroundtheworldwhohavebeenabletomakegenuineprogressonanextraordinarilydif-ficultproblemthathasstumpedsomeoftheworld’sfinestmindsfor80y

6、ears.[R]equiredreadingforanyoneinterestedintheproblemofquantumgravityandthefutureoftheoreticalphysics.”—THEAMERICANSCIENTISTOVERDESIGNBYCLEESMOLINisaleadingcontributortothesearchforaquantumtheoryofgravity.HeiscurrentlyaresearcheratPerimeterInstituteforTheoreticalPhysicsandW

7、ITHANEWPOSTSCRIPTBYTHEAUTHORProfessorofPhysicsatWaterlooUniversity.HeisalsotheauthorofLifeoftheCosmos.US$14.00/$20.95CANAMemberofthePerseusBooksGroupwww.basicbooks.comTHREEROADSTOQUANTUMGRAVITYLEESMOLINAMemberofthePerseusBooksGroupSmolinNRM.qxd5/16/022:37PMPageivTomyparents

8、PaulineandMichaelCopyright©2001byLeeSmolinPublishedbyBasicBooks,AMemberofthePerseu