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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to modern physics, which of the following may cease to exist at the center of a black hole?

2. Greene suggests that black holes may be elementary particles that have undergone _____.

3. What is strong-weak duality?

4. Which of the following is true regarding experimental evidence for super particles?

5. What is one possible way that the three dimensions we observe could have been "stretched out"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the state of the universe's expansion, including what its ultimate fate might be.

2. How are strings affected by extra dimensions?

3. How does a black hole's entropy change?

4. What is a wormhole, and how is it formed?

5. What is the major problem preventing string theory from gaining widespread acceptance, and why does this problem persist?

6. Describe the difficulties in studying the entropy of a black hole.

7. What is the major difference between the big bang with and without string theory?

8. Describe the phenomenon of winding in string theory.

9. What is the origin of M-theory, and what are its basic characteristics?

10. What is the strong-weak duality?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Accelerated Evidence

In this book, the author presents many thought problems to help the reader work through difficult concepts. The unintuitive concepts of special and general relativity receive particular attention. These theories fly in the face of observations made in everyday life, but at the speeds and scales that they deal with, they have been confirmed to be exactly correct. Furthermore, they form one of the cornerstones of modern physics. This essay deals with thought problems that illustrate the underlying principles of special and general relativity. The essay should include ample explanations and transitions so that it is cohesive and makes sense.

Part 1) Describe a number of novel thought problems that would demonstrate the principles of special relativity, that motion is relative, and that time and space warp for an object moving near the speed of light. Each thought problem should be robust enough that it requires multiple sentences to explain. Each problem should clearly demonstrate the principle in question, and explained fully, with a succinct conclusion.

Part 2) Imagine that a space traveler is locked inside a ship, and cannot use any senses or tools to observe anything outside of the room he is occupying. Propose a number of experiments that the traveler could perform to determine what the motion of the spacecraft is. Be sure to include a discussion of constant-velocity motion, accelerated motion, gravitational acceleration, and orbital (circular) motion.

Part 3) Repeat the analysis performed in part 1 for the case of general relativity. Demonstrate the equivalence between acceleration and gravity, the warping of space-time caused by massive objects, and the straight-line motion of objects through curved space.

Essay Topic 2

Inflation

Inflation theory is a very unusual theory about the first moments of the universe's existence. It predicts that an unimaginably massive expansion took place in a mind-bogglingly short period. However, the theory has been more or less definitively confirmed, and is an important part of modern cosmology.

Part 1) Describe the nature of the microwave cosmic background radiation and the horizon problem. Fully explain how these things relate to the expansion of the universe and the classic model of the big bang.

Part 2) Explain the development of inflation theory. How does it solve the horizon problem?

Part 3) How is the inflation theory affected by string theory?

Part 4) Explain some of the effects of the inflationary period on the universe that we observe today.

Essay Topic 3

Strung Along

String theory is one of the most important physical theories of this century, and it has a mottled and unusual history. String theory has progressed in fits and starts since its strange inception, experiencing periods of boom and bust, but always moving forward. Part 1) Describe the early history of string theory, beginning with the accidental discovery by Gabriele Veneziano, up through the work of Schwarz and Scherk.

Part 2) Detail the history of the first and second "superstring revolutions". What set off these periods of intense study, what was achieved, and how did they end?

Part 3) Speculate why string theory has suffered periodic declines in the physics community. Use evidence from the book, or outside research to support your claims.

(see the answer keys)

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