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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is a virtual string pair?
(a) A pair of strings created purely in the curled-up dimensions.
(b) A quantum-entangled pair of unwound, massless strings.
(c) A short-lived pair of strings resulting from a normal string splitting momentarily.
(d) A pair of strings that cancel each other out and therefore do no correspond to real particles.

2. String theory claims that super particles _____.
(a) Are massless.
(b) Come in pairs.
(c) Do not exist.
(d) Are the only non-string particles.

3. What is M-theory?
(a) A specialized version of the "Heterotic A" string theory.
(b) A combination of general relativity and string theory.
(c) A theory that would unite all branches of string theory.
(d) An open-ended string theory.

4. What problem of cosmology was the inflationary model created to deal with?
(a) The universe is too large to support its own expansion.
(b) The universe is too small to support its own expansion.
(c) The cosmic background radiation is uniform, and shouldn't be.
(d) The cosmic background is not uniform, and should be.

5. Which of the following most accurately describes the state of the universe?
(a) It is expanding.
(b) It is about to begin contracting.
(c) It is collapsing.
(d) It is mostly static.

6. What does the string coupling constant govern?
(a) The number of strings that can be joined at once.
(b) The relative length of threading between strings.
(c) The strength of links between strings.
(d) The likelihood of strings joining or separating.

7. Kaluza-Klein theory units which two fundamental forces?
(a) The strong force and the weak force.
(b) Electromagnetism and the weak force.
(c) Gravity and electromagnetism.
(d) Gravity and the strong force.

8. At what scale of length is quantum geometry necessitated?
(a) Cosmological scales.
(b) Nanometers.
(c) The Planck length.
(d) The Riemann scale.

9. What is one possible way that the three dimensions we observe could have been "stretched out"?
(a) The big bang.
(b) Quantum fluctuations.
(c) Vacuum energy.
(d) A false vacuum event.

10. The method of tearing space-time discovered by Greene and others is called _____.
(a) Space-tearing wormhole formation.
(b) Space-tearing flop transition.
(c) Spontaneous tunneling reaction.
(d) Quantum collision.

11. Which of the following is true regarding our current knowledge of the Calabi-Yau space?
(a) Its shape is totally unknown.
(b) Physicists and mathematicians disagree about its shape.
(c) Its shape is completely known and defined.
(d) Its shape is not fully known.

12. In ratios of what number do winding energies come?
(a) Six.
(b) Ten.
(c) Any whole number.
(d) Two.

13. By what factor is the minimum mass of a wrapped string in determined?
(a) The string's winding number.
(b) The vacuum energy of the dimension it is wrapped around.
(c) The string's Planck tension.
(d) The size of the circular dimension it is wrapped around.

14. When the universe is at its smallest possible size, which other property is also at its maximum?
(a) The Planck tension.
(b) Its temperature.
(c) The string coupling constant.
(d) The cosmological constant.

15. When a Calabi-Yau space collapses, it comes back as a space. What distinction does it have?
(a) It has mirror-symmetry with its old shape.
(b) It has one less hole.
(c) It has no shielding against tears in space-time.
(d) It has one fewer dimensions.

Short Answer Questions

1. What metric best approximates the scales at which extra dimensions would have a major impact?

2. Why are the extra dimensions needed in string theory?

3. Which of the following is true regarding the amount of visible matter in the universe compared to the amount of matter required to cause collapse of the universe?

4. In string theory, how do strings interact?

5. What is the importance of the string-coupling constant?

(see the answer keys)

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