超弦理论及其进展

String/M-theory and its progress

综述了超弦/M理论的意义、重要性及其发展过程中的两次革命以及已经取得的成绩,评述了该领域目前的研究现状和发展趋势,探讨了该理论的研究如何帮助我们认识和理解一个量子引力理论以及包括引力在内的相互作用统一理论所需要满足的要求和条件.该理论的研究也在一定程度上揭示了时空的本质和模糊性、相互作用的本质和模糊性,以及在考虑非微扰效应下经典和量子之间存在的可能模糊性,由此为该理论的进一步研究和完善给予启示.

We report the significance of string/M-theory and the two revolutions in the course of its development as well as its major achievements, review its current status and trends, and discuss how the study of this theory can deepen our understanding of a quantum gravity theory and reveal the conditions which a consistent unified theory including gravity must meet. Current progress of this theory has revealed, to certain extent, the nature of space-time and its fuzziness, the nature of interactions and their fuzziness, and the possible fuzziness between classical and quantum descriptions when non-perturbative effects are taken into consideration. These may guide the further progress and lead to the completion of this theory.