The first hint at the existence of extra dimensions (dimensions beyond length, width, height, and time) came via Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Almost at a glance, the set of ten general relativity equations indicates an ultimate origin for matter and energy. Even without the detailed calculations, a picture emerges from those equations, a picture of simultaneous expansion and deceleration. Only one phenomenon in physics fits this picture: an explosion. A closer study of these general relativity equations reveals that the entire universe burst forth and is still expanding outward from an infinitely (or nearly infinitely) dense state.1
This creation event, often called the Big Bang, has been confirmed in several ways through the past few decades of research.2 The most direct evidence comes from measurements of the distances and motions of the galaxies3-4 (we can watch the galaxies exploding away from one another) and of the temperature and characteristics of the initial explosion’s radiation residue at varying distances from us5-9 (we can observe the universe getting cooler and cooler as it gets older and older, or larger and larger). This bursting forth of the cosmos from an infinitely small volume, or essentially an infinitely small volume (a few cosmological models predict an initial maximum volume of 10-100 or1.0000000000 00000000000000000000 00000000000000000000 00000000000000000000 0000000000 00000000000000000001 cubic centimeters), implies that the universe has a beginning, a starting point in the finite past. Einstein recognized this implication10 and dared to say that it affirms the necessity of "a superior reasoning power."11
Space-Time Theorem Emerges
Einstein’s conclusion went against the grain of astronomers and physicists trained to presume an infinite universe and an irrelevant, if any, Initiator. The simplicity and obvious nature of his conclusion made it all the more irritating.12-18 Several attempts were made to prove that this finite beginning arose from incorrect assumptions about the universe’s homogeneity and symmetry.19 Critics tried introducing all manner of inhomogeneities, asymmetries, and rotations into Einstein’s theory, but to their amazement, these machinations backfired. They actually slightly shortened the time scale back to the beginning.20 No matter how astrophysicists manipulated the theory, this stubborn singularity (the infinitesimally small volume threshold at which matter and energy began) would not go away.
It was left to the next generation of astrophysicists to figure out why it would not, could not, go away. Over a four-year period, starting in 1966, George Ellis, Stephen Hawking, and Roger Penrose affirmed that any expanding universe governed by general relativity and which also contains at least some matter and energy must possess a singular origin in the finite past.21-24 But they went further. In fact, they carried the solution of Einstein’s equations further than anyone else had. In doing so, they discovered that the operation of general relativity guarantees a singular boundary not just for matter and energy but also for space and time. In other words, if general relativity accurately describes the physics of the universe, both the stuff that makes up the universe and the dimensions in which that stuff exists and operates share a common origin, a finite beginning. We call this finding the space-time theorem of general relativity, and it carries profound philosophical and theological significance.
In 1970, however, that crucial if still hung over general relativity. Expansion was no longer in doubt; the existence of matter and energy never had been in doubt. And though the operation of general relativity had been affirmed—to 1 percent precision (two decimal places)25-27—it had not yet been established with adequate certainty to put theoreticians’ doubts to rest.28 By 1980, the level of certainty had improved to better than a hundredth percent precision (four decimal places)29—impressive, and yet still not quite enough to satisfy the most skeptical.30 But in 1993, the lingering shred of uncertainty finally flew away.
The Nobel Prize in physics that year went to Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor for their study of the binary pulsar PSR 1913+16. This stellar system is unique: two neutron stars (one of which is also a pulsar) orbit closely about one another. Through a twenty-year-long study of this system—in which gravitational forces exceed those seen in our solar system by hundreds of thousands of times—a team lead by Taylor was able to affirm the accuracy of general relativity to better than a trillionth percent precision (that is, to fourteen decimal places).31-32 In Penrose’s words, this set of measurements "makes Einstein’s general relativity, in this particular sense, the most accurately tested theory known to science!"33
General Relativity Confirmed in All Contexts
While Hulse and Taylor’s measurements did convince the community of physicists and astronomers of general relativity’s reliability, there were still a few doubters among certain theologians and philosophers. Philosopher J. P. Moreland, for example, is not impressed by the predictive and explanatory successes of general relativity.34 He and others are waiting for general relativity to be proved in all relative contexts.
Previous to Hulse and Taylor’s work, general relativity had passed eleven independent experimental tests. These experiments are described in some detail in one of my previous books.35 The tests ranged from the bending of distant star and quasar light by the gravity of the sun or of distant quasar light by the gravity of a galaxy, to small adjustments in the orbits of planets and asteroids about the sun, to gravitational red shifts in the wavelengths of certain spectral lines, to the retardation of radar and laser signals bounced off various solar-system bodies, to the orbital characteristics of binary star systems containing pulsars. What was lacking, however, were tests in and around black holes, the demonstration of perfect or near-perfect (and therefore unambiguous) "Einstein rings," and the demonstration of the predicted but elusive "Lense-Thirring effect." These evidences have now been supplied by scientific observations.
General relativity predicts that any spinning massive body will drag or twist the space-time fabric itself. Specifically, general relativity states that if a disk of material orbits a very dense body like a neutron star or black hole at an angle to the plane of the star or hole’s spin axis, the dragging or twisting of space-time that is predicted will cause the disk to wobble like a child’s top. In turn, the wobble will generate oscillations in the intensity of the X-ray radiation emitted from the gas in the disk. The theory even predicts the rate at which the oscillations should occur according to the spin characteristics of the particular neutron star or black hole.
At a recent meeting of the American Astronomical Society, two separate teams—one from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the other from the Astronomical Observatory of Rome and the University of Rome—reported on the first-ever detection of such oscillations. The American team observed five black holes and discovered oscillations as rapid as three hundred times per second.36 In each case the oscillation rate was exactly what general relativity predicted. The Italian team observed several black holes, and likewise the general relativity predictions were right on target.36
A few weeks after the twisting of the space-time fabric was first observed, general relativity passed three more tests. One was the first conclusive proof for the existence of stellar mass black holes. (General relativity predicts that a galaxy of the size and age of ours should contain several stellar mass black holes.) Measurements made months ago of the orbital characteristics of an optical star orbiting the X-ray nova A0620-00 established beyond all doubt that the nova exceeded the maximum mass for a stable neutron star (meaning that the star could not possibly have avoided becoming a black hole).37 Since then, several more X-ray novae have yielded the same conclusion.37
The existence of supermassive (exceeding a million solar masses) black holes in the nuclei of very large galaxies was established several years ago. What is new is the first-time measurement of the velocities of the inner regions of the accretion disks surrounding these supermassive black holes.37 These velocities, measuring close to one-third the velocity of light, are consistent with the predictions of general relativity.
Most people know that general relativity predicts that gravity will bend light. In fact, the first confirmation of general relativity came during a solar eclipse in 1919 when the stars in the Hyades star cluster were observed to be slightly out of place. A much more dramatic and definitive test of general relativity can be had when a massive galaxy lies exactly on the line of sight between the observer’s telescope and a distant quasar. In this case general relativity predicts the appearance of an "Einstein" ring centered on the image of the quasar. Now, for the first time, an unambiguous, complete Einstein ring has been seen at optical and infrared wavelengths.38 The accompanying image (see Figure 3.1, page 31) was made by the Hubble Space Telescope, what physicist Andrew Watson termed a "dazzling demonstration of Einstein’s theory at work."39
The last major prediction of general relativity still lacking observational confirmation was the Lense-Thirring effect. This is the prediction that the spin of a body will generate space-time curvature in its vicinity and therefore will alter slightly the path of a smaller body orbiting about it. The predicted effect is incredibly small and until recently no instruments existed with the necessary sensitivity to either confirm or deny general relativity in this context. What did the trick was a four-year-long study on two laser-ranged satellites, LAGEOS and LAGEOS II, orbiting the earth.40 Five physicists from Italy and Spain established that the Lense-Thirring effect indeed exists and its value is within 10 percent of general relativity’s prediction with a plus or minus total error of about 20 percent.41
Finally, in mid-1998, a hypernova—the first one ever seen—was observed, an explosion so intense that at certain wavelengths (gamma-ray wavelengths) and for a few seconds the energy release was the equivalent of millions of supernovae (a supernova at maximum light outshines a hundred billion ordinary stars). So intense was this explosion that some compared it to the big bang itself and speculated that perhaps its energy output was too much for the laws of physics.42 Abandoning the laws of physics would open the door to abandoning all the physical evidence for divine creation. But general relativity provides an easy, albeit dramatic, rescue. According to general relativity, the merger of neutron stars and/or black holes will generate exactly the kind of gamma-ray burst that was observed.43-44 In fact, if such an event were to take place near our galaxy, rather than more than halfway across the universe, it would produce the gravity waves predicted by general relativity and particle physics at a strong enough level for us to detect. Of course, if such an event were much closer than that, the human species would be exterminated!
Today it can be said that no theory of physics has ever been tested in so many different contexts and so rigorously as general relativity. The fact that general relativity has withstood all these tests so remarkably well implies that no basis at all remains for doubting the conclusions of the space-time theorem.
Second Dimension of Time
The space-time theorem is no longer in question. Nor is its corollary that the cause (Causer) of the universe operates in a dimension of time or its equivalent (that is, maintains some attribute, capacity, super-dimensionality, or supra-dimensionality that permits the equivalent of cause and effect operations) completely independent of ours. The law of causality (or the law of statistical correlation in which quantum or statistical mechanical effects are significant) says that effects emanate from causes and not the other way around. Thus, causes precede their effects. Time, then, can be defined as a dimension along which cause and effect phenomena occur.
While a few philosophers might object to this causal definition of time,45 it is a definition that allows all time-dependent phenomena in all the sciences to be treated consistently. It is also the most common definition of time employed by the popular media and in secular lay society. Since no living human transcends the space-time manifold of the universe (and, therefore, cannot observe time from outside or beyond time), no living human can boast a correct, absolute, or complete definition of time. But such a definition is not necessary. We simply need a consistent definition, and we need to use that definition consistently. So, whenever I refer to time in this book, I mean physical time, time as defined by the operation of cause-and-effect phenomena.
The creation event—the origin of the universe’s matter, energy, and dimensionality—is an effect that includes our time dimension. Whoever caused the universe, then, must possess at least one more time dimension (or some attribute, capacity, super-dimension, or supra-dimension that encompasses all the properties of time). To put it another way, God is able to interact with us in ways we interpret (through our time-bound experience of cause and effect) as the result of timelike capacities in the person or essence of God or the existence of other timelike dimensions or properties through which God operates.
In this space-time theorem and its corollary, we find confirmation of the biblical revelation of a Creator who exists and operates beyond our time dimension and who is in no way confined to it. In other words, the Creator’s capacities include the equivalent of at least two, perhaps more, time dimensions. Just imagine for a moment what His time capacities, cause and effect capacities, must be. No wonder He calls Himself the "I am," the Alpha and the Omega. (We’ll delve into the deeper theological implications of God’s timefulness in later chapters.)
Unified Field Theories
Still more breakthroughs have come and are coming. Physicists can now demonstrate that the Causer exists and operates in several spatial dimensions beyond our three, as well as in at least one more time dimension (or the equivalent).
This rapidly unfolding drama started more than a half century ago in the quest for a single elegant theory that would explain the relationship of all four forces of physics, a "unified field theory." Einstein devoted the last twenty-five years of his life to this ambitious quest. He failed to achieve his goal, not for lack of brilliance, but for lack of technological tools: particle accelerators powerful enough to produce the extended family of fundamental particles and to probe unification energies; supercomputers capable of generating various solutions to sets of complex non-linear differential equations; ground-and space-based telescopes capable of penetrating the farthest reaches of the cosmos to its earliest moments of existence. (The more distant a galaxy, the longer it took that light to reach us and therefore the farther back in time we are peering.)
Einstein did succeed in his goal in one significant sense: He paved the way to development of that magnificent theory. In developing special relativity, he showed how matter and energy are interchangeable under certain conditions. In general relativity, he showed how space and time, as well as matter and energy, are interchangeable under certain conditions. The key to this interchangeability, or "unification," was the addition of a dimension. When the traditional three-dimensional approach got him nowhere, Einstein proposed a four-dimensional system requiring calculations in 4-D, rather than 3-D, geometry. He treated time as a fourth dimension, virtually equivalent to length, width, and height. And his approach worked.
Einstein’s addition of a dimension unifying matter and energy (special relativity) and eventually matter, energy, length, width, height, and time (general relativity), set today’s generation of physicists on the right track. By adding not just one but several dimensions of space to our three, they may well have accomplished what once seemed impossible. The latest research findings demonstrate that electromagnetism, the weak and strong nuclear forces, and gravity—the four fundamental forces of physics—can be unified in a ten-dimensional realm.
The first observational indication came in the 1970s and early 1980s when newly available one-hundred-billion-electron-volt particle accelerators brought physicists success in unifying electromagnetism and the weak nuclear force into one force, the electroweak force.46-49 Their efforts showed, at least to some extent, that force unification is possible.
A series of 1990s experiments using much more powerful particle accelerators aided in the discovery of several dozen fundamental particles, including the six quarks predicted by theories explaining the unification of the strong and weak nuclear forces with the electromagnetic force.50-51 Based on these findings, researchers are confident that the strong nuclear force, too, must be unifiable with the electroweak force. Exactly how has yet to be observed, but particle physicists have theoretically established that such unification will occur at energy levels of about a trillion trillion electron volts (a trillion times more energy than the highest levels achieved to date in particle accelerator experiments).
Relieving the Gravity-Quantum Mechanics Impasse
What emerged from these experiments was a theoretical construct called supersymmetry, the conclusion that electromagnetism and the weak and strong nuclear forces are indeed unifiable. The next step was to fit gravity into the scheme.
The first to attempt the integration of gravity and supersymmetry was California Institute of Technology’s John Schwartz in the mid 1980s. What Schwartz soon discovered was that the dimensions of length, width, height, and time did not provide enough room for all the symmetries demanded by both gravity and quantum mechanics (the subatomic world where energy is not infinitely divisible). In other words, in four space-time dimensions all possible formulations of gravity predict that quantum mechanics must be false and all possible formulations of quantum mechanics predict that gravity must be false. Since overwhelming physical evidence establishes that both gravity and quantum mechanics are true—in fact, human life is impossible unless both are true52-53—the universe in some context must be composed of more than four dimensions.
For the ten years that followed Schwartz’s discovery, he and his growing team of theoreticians built models of creation that ran the gamut from eight to twenty-six dimensions of space and time. What emerged were millions of possible solutions with little hope of discerning which of the possibilities was correct.
Strings
The theoretical and observational success of supersymmetry convinced researchers that extra space dimensions must exist. This new perspective on reality became possible only because researchers would not give up in the face of a seemingly intractable problem. As long as they treated fundamental particles as points, all attempts at finding the correct solution for unification failed. Worse yet, their equations yielded absurd conditions for the universe at ultra high temperatures.
Something was wrong, but what? Fundamental particles look like points and behave like points, but because models treating them as points developed problems at high temperature conditions, conditions that must have existed very near the beginning of the cosmos, obviously the models were incorrect. What if fundamental particles looked and behaved like something other than points in the newborn universe? Through painstaking effort John Schwartz’s team and others found that if fundamental particles function as loops of energy, what physicists call "strings," unification theories and the entire array of physics theories—even special and general relativity, gravity, and quantum mechanics—may work together.
A Close-up on Strings
Strings are less like strings than they are like vibrating, rotating elastic bands. They are greatly stretched at the extremely high temperature of the first split second of the universe’s existence. At the lower temperatures since then, they are contracted to such a degree (typically they are a hundred billion billion times smaller than a proton) that they behave like points.
String theories do not work in three space dimensions. They need much more room to operate. However, they need that room—six extra space dimensions—only for a moment, just a split second after the initial creative burst. From that moment on, these six extra dimensions are no longer necessary to the universe’s development. So, what happened to the six?
For many months scientists grappled with literally thousands of possible answers to that question. Because of the enormous complexity of the string theory equations, more than a hundred million possible mathematical solutions existed; and, because our knowledge of conditions in the earliest moments of the universe lacks necessary precision, determining which of these solutions correctly described reality posed a daunting problem.
Math Breakthrough Solves String Problem
In the latter weeks of 1994, while people around the world prepared to celebrate Christmas, physicists Ed Witten and Nathan Seiberg gave their own special gift to humanity. They reduced an entire field of mathematics to a single short paper. For decades mathematicians were stymied in their attempts to describe with precision certain physics phenomena requiring four-dimensional space. Their equations seemed impossible to solve, even with supercomputers. But a pair of super human brains did it. Witten and Seiberg transformed these extremely complex equations into simple ones54,55, almost as simple as the calculus equations so familiar to undergraduates.
While string theorists recognized almost immediately that they had just received a boost toward success, even the optimists assumed that producing a workable theory would take at least a few more years of hard work. To their surprise and joy, the crucial breakthrough came in a matter of months.
Witten and Seiberg helped by eliminating an annoying physical absurdity from supersymmetry theory. When Witten and Seiberg introduced a hypothetical massive particle that has the potential to become massless, the absurdity vanished.56 Taking a clue from this approach, physicist Andrew Strominger proposed a certain type of black hole, what he calls a "charged extremal black hole," as the possible solution to a similar problem encountered in string theory.56 Strominger later teamed up with physicists Brian Greene, Juan Maldacena, and Cumrun Vafa and mathematician David Morrison to demonstrate that charged extremal black holes can transform into fundamental particles, and vice versa, in a manner similar to ice turning into liquid water and liquid water into ice.56-60
As an unexpected bonus, Strominger, Greene, Maldacena, Vafa, and Morrison found that by introducing such transformations, the hundred million plus different string models operating in four, five, six, and ten space dimensions could all be united with perfect consistency into just one theory, the ten-dimensional one. To put it another way, theories formerly thought to be competing descriptions of reality—theories invoking "magnetic monopoles," "ordinary strings," "five-branes," "solitons," "type II strings," and "heterotic strings" (see box on page 38)—can all be integrated into a single, overarching theory.61-65
Massless Black Holes?
As most students of science and viewers of Star Trek realize, a black hole has so much mass that its gravity pulls in anything—even light—that gets close enough to it. But for Strominger’s black holes to fit neatly into string theory, black holes must become massless at critical moments. This necessity raises an obvious question: How can a black hole have zero mass without violating the definition of a black hole? Or more difficult yet, without violating the principles of gravity? Simply put, how can there be gravity without mass?
The answer was found in the spatial configuration of a black hole in extra dimensions. Strominger discovered that in six space dimensions, the mass of a particular black hole (an "extremal" black hole, one with a mass and charge so tiny as to be comparable to one of the fundamental particles) is proportional to its surface area. By making this area small enough, eventually the mass becomes zero. To answer the question another way, special relativity (E=mc2) tells us mass and energy are interchangeable. General relativity extends this principle to space and time. When spatial lines are curled up tightly enough, mass and space become interchangeable. For the tiny black holes Strominger is describing, the space curvature is certainly tight enough to accomplish this interchangeability. As if this finding weren’t exciting enough, Strominger also discovered that his extremal black holes become massless in precisely those circumstances—and only those circumstances—necessary to eliminate the remaining physical absurdities of string theory. Black holes, which never fit into string theory before, now do fit. And they fit in a way that actually solves string theory’s most perplexing problems.
Experimental Evidences for Strings
Unquestionably, strings yield an amazingly elegant set of physical principles. They beautifully unite the physics of the very small with the physics of the very large. But do string theorists have any experimental or observational evidences to support their gorgeous equations? This claim that the universe began with ten dimensions (for a split second) and a unified set of physics forces is dramatic, but what verification, besides workable equations, can we see?
Evidences come from the following six areas of research.
1. Observation of partial force unification: Particle accelerator experiments prove that two of the four forces of physics, the weak nuclear force and electromagnetism, are indeed unifiable. These kinds of experiments also give at least partial evidence that the strong nuclear force is unifiable with these other two. A good example is the discovery of all six quarks predicted by the theory with each of the different quarks at the expected respective masses. Within the next several years, the world’s two largest particle accelerators should detect another of the predicted unification particles, namely, the Higgs boson. Though we do not yet have any experimental evidence to show that gravity is unifiable with the other three forces, a soon-to-be-operational gravity wave detector holds the potential to affirm this part of the theory.
2. Discovery of both fermions and bosons: Particle accelerators provided proof for the existence of quarks and leptons, particles predicted by supersymmetry theory. Supersymmetry also predicts that for every fundamental particle of matter known as a fermion, a wavelike particle known as a boson must exist. These bosons mediate the fundamental forces of physics. While particle accelerator experiments have detected fermions and bosons in abundance, none has yet detected a matched fermion-boson pair, which supersymmetry calls for. But we know why such a detection has not been made: experiments to date lack the power necessary to find a matched pair. The next generation of particle accelerators may have that power, perhaps as soon as a few years after the turn of the century.66 (Such a detection would have been an easy task for the canceled superconducting supercollider.)
3. Prediction of relativity: Arguably the strongest category of evidence comes via experimental proofs for relativity theory. In order to be viable, string theory must yield the theories of both special and general relativity exactly as Einstein formulated them. If physicists had been able to discover string theory before they knew anything at all about relativity, both special and general relativity theory would have emerged easily and straightforwardly from the analysis of strings. Strings cannot move self-consistently throughout space and time unless relativity equations and principles are operating. Thus, the experimental proofs that affirm special and general relativity simultaneously serve as evidence for the validity of string theory.
Such proof has become more than adequate; it is staggering. The work of Taylor’s team affirmed general relativity to better than a trillionth of a percent precision, as already noted. And even stronger evidence exists for special relativity. It has been affirmed to a precision of better than a ten millionth of a trillionth percent.67
Because relativity is solidly established, so are the many components of string theory, including the ten space-time dimensions, that link with relativity.
4. Reconciliation of quantum mechanics and gravity: Additional confirmation comes from the unique role string theory plays in solving major mysteries of physics. String theory is a quantum theory that demands the operation of gravity. It is the only theory that permits quantum mechanics and gravity to coexist. Whereas pre-string theory made gravity impossible, string theory makes it necessary. It is the only theory that self-consistently explains all the known properties of the known fundamental particles (now numbering fifty-eight), all the properties and principles of quantum mechanics, all the properties and principles of both special and general relativity, the operation of all four forces of physics, and all the known details of the creation event.
5. Solution of the black hole entropy-information problem: Thanks to sci-fi movies and television programs, everybody knows that black holes are objects so massive and so compressed that their gravity sucks in anything coming close. This "anything" includes not only matter, light, and other forms of energy but also entropy and information. However, all viable physics theories, including the ten-dimensional creation theory we have been discussing, rule out the possibility of infinite "sinks." Matter, energy, entropy, and information cannot be infinitely compressed (that is, cannot permanently vanish). These things cannot be utterly destroyed or lost. They can only be transported or rearranged.
Stephen Hawking suggested a solution to this problem twenty years ago, but it fell short on one crucial point. Hawking showed how a black hole that has shrunk to quantum dimensions (dimensions below a picometer, 10-12 meters) could become white (radiating, not sucking in).68 He drew upon theoretically derived and experimentally verified "virtual particle pairs." These particle pairs arise from quantum fluctuations in the space-time fabric of the universe. They are called "virtual" particle pairs because they are so extremely short-lived (lasting less than a picosecond) that they fade out of existence (revert back to their space-time origin) before a human observer can directly detect them. However, just beyond the event horizon of a black hole (the distance inside which nothing can escape the black hole), the black hole’s gravity is powerful enough to split apart a virtual particle pair, converting one of the virtual particles into a single real particle that zooms off into space. Accordingly, a black hole can, once it shrinks enough, radiate (or "lose") matter and energy.
Hawking and his team could not explain, however, what happens to the entropy and information sucked into a black hole. On this point his solution stumbled. And on this point, the ten-dimensional origin theory comes through with an answer.
As an unexpected bonus, Vafa and Strominger’s calculations solve the mystery of what happens to the information sucked into an extremal black hole.69 While some information is retained along the event horizon (the space-time boundary at which gravity sucks inanything in contact with the boundary), much more is hidden along the multidimensions—six, in this case. Taking the investigation further, two physicists from the University of Pennsylvania showed that these six dimensions also set up two event horizons around quantum-sized black holes, an outer event horizon and a shrouded inner horizon.70 The entropy, they determined, is distributed along both horizons.
In other words, information and entropy are retained as a black hole shrinks to an extremely small volume. They are just hidden temporarily. Eventually they escape along with the ejected ("real") particles when the virtual particles split in two.
6. Observations of the spin rate of black holes: The 10-D creation theory predicts that as black holes shrink, they should spin up at a certain rate. Recently, three astronomers from MIT and NASA found a way to measure, indirectly, the spin rate of small black holes (no more massive than a few times the sun’s mass) with stellar companions.71 Using telescopes on four different satellites, the team derived the data to calculate that each black hole observed is spinning at the extremely rapid rate predicted by the theory. One black hole, GRO J1655S-40, was seen to spin at 100,000 times per second!
To say that string theory represents a monumental development in physics, helping us to understand the natural realm and the awesome capacities of the God who created it, is to state the case mildly.
Dimensional Partition
At the very heart of string theory is the proposal that the cosmos experienced a dimensional "split" at 10-43 seconds (a ten millionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second) after the creation event began. At that instant, the ten-dimensional expanding universe split into two: a six-dimensional piece that permanently ceased expanding and never produced matter, and a four-dimensional piece that became our dimensions of length, width, height, and time. That four-dimensional system continued to expand and eventually produced matter and stars.
A better way of picturing this dimensional partition is to see all the spatial dimensions of the universe originally curled up in a very tiny "superball." In the beginning, these spatial dimensions began to uncurl as the universe expanded. At 10-43 seconds after the creation event, six of these dimensions stopped uncurling (that is, stopped growing) and the rest became our observable universe of gas, dust, galaxies, solar systems, etc. To this day, the six other dimensions remain curled up everywhere, at every location within our four still-expanding dimensions of length, width, height, and time.
An analogy for what happened would be to picture a sheet of paper so tightly curled up around one of its edges that it now appears to be a string or line. What was once a two-dimensional sheet of paper, a plane, would now look like a one-dimensional line since the second dimension is so tightly curled up around the first dimension as to disappear.
For the present-day universe, the curl for the other six dimensions is very tight indeed. Their spatial cross sections are only 10-35 meters. This is much less than a millionth of a trillionth of the classical radius for an electron. Since no instrument even comes close to resolving such small measurements, we humans sense the existence of only the four large still-expanding dimensions of length, width, height, and time.
Extra Space Dimensions and God
The space-time theorem of general relativity establishes not only the Creator’s extra time dimension(s) or their equivalent, but also His capacity to operate in all the space dimensions the universe has ever possessed (or their equivalent). What follows, then, from string theory and from all these recent findings in particle physics and astrophysics, is that God must be operating in a minimum of eleven dimensions of space and time (or their practical equivalent).
Why So Few Dimensions for Us?
We may be inclined to wonder why God limited our existence to just three space dimensions when we could have enjoyed some spectacular "advantages" by living in a few more. The Bible suggests that we will live in something like those dimensions, someday, with Him (see chapter 17); but as it turns out, human life—our physical, carbon-based life—could not exist in a universe composed of any more (or fewer) than three expanding large dimensions of space. The gravity that makes stable planetary systems possible, including the system that gives us the necessary temperature, atmosphere, day-night cycle, and other life-essential conditions, would render such systems impossible in a four- or more-dimensional system. Only if gravity obeys an inverse square law, as it does only in three dimensions, are stable, approximately circular, orbits possible.
Electromagnetism provides another reason for three space dimensions. In a system with anything other than three space dimensions, electrons would either spiral away from or spiral into the nuclei they orbit. In anything other than a large three-spatial-dimensional universe, neutral atoms (atoms with no charge) and molecules could never exist. Stable stars are possible because the electromagnetic forces in stars balance the gravitational forces, a condition met only in a large, three-dimensional system. Thus, atomic-based physical life—subject to gravity, thermodynamics, and electromagnetism—would be impossible in any universe but a three-space-dimensional one.
A home fit for our physical bodies can exist only in a space-time region composed of one large, uncurled dimension of time, three large, uncurled dimensions of space, and six very tightly curled-up space dimensions. The universe’s dimensional makeup constitutes one of dozens of tangible evidences for purposeful cosmic design with life in mind (popularly known as the anthropic principle).72 By definition alone, design demands a personal, intelligent, powerful Designer.
A Privileged Generation
Living on the brink of the twenty-first century may present us with some dreadful liabilities—social, political, and environmental crises, to mention a few. And yet, from a scientific and spiritual perspective, we can consider ourselves privileged.
We are the only people ever to see (or need) direct scientific proof not only for God’s existence, but also for His transcendent capacity to create space and time dimensions, as well as to operate in dimensions independent from our own four. The remarkable advance of research reveals a God who lives and operates in the equivalent of at least eleven dimensions of space and time. Such extra-dimensional capacities are more than adequate to resolve the doctrinal conflicts and paradoxical issues that have divided the church and perplexed both believers and unbelievers for centuries.
To loosely paraphrase a verse of Scripture, "Where division, arrogance, and unbelief abound, humbling evidences do much more abound." That is God’s grace.
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