Is it possible that a future theory would add more information and understanding about electrons, photons etc., or is QED the best we can do?
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7We already know that QED is incomplete. That's why we needed to develop the standard model that includes the electroweak force and QCD. We know that the standard model is incomplete and that we may need supersymmetry or other similar extensions to make it better, and even then gravity would be missing on the level of current quantum field theory. How to include gravity is, mostly due to missing experimental data, fairly speculative. – CuriousOne Oct 07 '14 at 17:18
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2@CuriousOne: That probably could be an answer. – Kyle Kanos Oct 07 '14 at 17:19
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@KyleKanos: It could be, but I think a more theoretically oriented person should write the definitive answer. I can only wave a giant foam hand. :-) – CuriousOne Oct 07 '14 at 17:20
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well, if you believe in string theory, all of the particles we know and more are just particular frequencies of vibration living on a string worldsheet. If true, that's quite a bit of new information and understanding. – Zo the Relativist Oct 07 '14 at 17:26
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@JerrySchirmer well "if you believe in XXX theory" sounds quite unscientific... – Ruslan Oct 07 '14 at 18:40
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@Ruslan: there is no experimental evidence in favor of string theory, but there are reasonable theoretical reasons to expect it to be a correct theory of quantum gravity. It stands now as a plausible model, but not a certain scientific fact. Therefore, I embedded skepticism in my comment. – Zo the Relativist Oct 07 '14 at 19:23
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@CuriousOne I think you presented a good answer. Make it an answer. – garyp Oct 08 '14 at 00:40
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@garyp: Thanks for the support by everyone. Since nobody seems to want to answer in a more complete fashion, I'll oblige. – CuriousOne Oct 08 '14 at 01:38
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We already know that QED is incomplete. That's why we needed to develop the standard model that includes the electroweak force and QCD. We know that the standard model is incomplete and that we may need supersymmetry or other similar extensions to make it better, and even then gravity would be missing on the level of current quantum field theory. How to include gravity is, mostly due to missing experimental data, fairly speculative.
CuriousOne
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