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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. Regarding mirror-symmetry, Greene's work proved that _____.

2. What is strong-weak duality?

3. What did Stephen Hawking prove regarding black holes?

4. Which of the following best describes a wormhole?

5. What type of a string can be massless?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is the relative composition of matter in the universe?

3. What is the strong-weak duality?

4. Describe the big bang according to string theory.

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

6. What is mirror symmetry, and what is its relevance to string theory?

7. Why are superparticles important to string theory, and how has research into these particles affected the field of string theory?

8. What is the Calabi-Yau space?

9. How are strings affected by extra dimensions?

10. What did Morrison and Greene discover together, and why is it important?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Symmetry Through the Universe

The "super" in "superstring theory" comes from the theory of supersymmetry, which itself derives from the easily intelligible principle of symmetry, which is ubiquitous in science. A physical law has symmetry if it is applied equally to any point in space or time. Supersymmetry is an expansion of that principle, and it provides string theory with a unique capability.

Part 1) Describe the nature of symmetry in the scientific field, and give some examples of laws which obey symmetry. Provide imaginary counter-examples that demonstrate the chaotic and unpredictable nature of laws that do not have symmetry.

Part 2) Describe supersymmetry, and explain the property of "spin" associated with elementary particles, and how it applies to the theory. Describe attempts to prove supersymmetry experimentally.

Part 3) What is the advantage when supersymmetry is incorporated into string theory? Describe the predictive and explanatory power that string theory gains through this in detail.

Essay Topic 2

Quantum Foam

It has been said that one who is not distressed by quantum mechanics has not understood what has been explained. One of the most strange and distressing components of quantum mechanics is the "quantum foam", the very strange behavior of time, space, and elementary particles at very small scales.

Part 1) Describe the nature of quantum foam. What is it, where, and at what scales does it occur? What sorts of events occur in the quantum foam, and why?

Part 2) Describe some of the effects of quantum foam on our universe, both at small and large scales.

Part 3) Imagine an observer shrinking from normal macroscopic scales down to the microscopic, and then all the way down to the scale at which quantum foam is observed. What would this observer see occurring around him, and what would the experience be like? Be creative, and use as much factual scientific information as possible.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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