Three Roads to Quantum Gravity is a 2001 book by theoretical physicistLee Smolin. He discussess three potential approaches by which a unified theory of quantum gravity, arguably the foremost issue in theoretical physics, may be realized. Approaches discussed include string theory, M-theory, and Smolin's preferred approach, loop quantum gravity. Smolin insinuates that these approaches may be approximations of a single, underlying theory. 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... ... Lee Smolin at Harvard. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Theoretical physics employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics, as opposed to experimental processes, in an attempt to understand Nature. ... Interaction in the subatomic world: world lines of pointlike particles in the Standard Model or a world sheet swept up by closed strings in string theory String theory is a model of fundamental physics whose building blocks are one-dimensional extended objects (strings) rather than the zero-dimensional points (particles... M-theory is a solution proposed for the unknown theory of everything which would combine all five superstring theories and 11-dimensional supergravity together. ... Loop quantum gravity (LQG), also known as loop gravity and quantum geometry, is a proposed quantum theory of spacetime which attempts to reconcile the seemingly incompatible theories of quantum mechanics and general relativity. ...
But as physicist Lee Smolin writes in ThreeRoads to QuantumGravity, some of the newest ideas in physics are pointing to a surprising answer: space and time do indeed appear to be made out of such atoms.
Quantum theory says that something similar should also be true of gravity: just as there is a quantum theory of light, so there should be a quantum theory of gravity.
ThreeRoads to QuantumGravity offers an excellent overview of fascinating ideas that may indeed lead - and quite soon - to such a unified theory.
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