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I read once that string theory explains gravitation via invoking quanta of the electromagnetic field to transmit the force of gravity over large distances. Is this the truth? I read somewhere else that string theory invokes gravitons and extra dimensions to explain the force of gravity. Since my understanding of string theory isn't excellent, and since it could be an informative exercise, I was wondering if anyone would mind explaining to me exactly how string theory yields gravity in either the Newtonian or relativistic senses.

Qmechanic
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Sam Cottle
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  • I'm afraid that a post on SE would not be enough to explain "exactly" how string theory yields gravity. Besides, do you happen to remember where you have read that "string theory explains gravitation via invoking quanta of the electromagnetic field to transmit the force of gravity"? – Prallax Aug 28 '21 at 20:22
  • No, I don't. But your best efforts to explain it here (how string theory explains gravity that is) would be much appreciated. – Sam Cottle Aug 28 '21 at 20:23
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    I'm sorry, I know nothing about string theory. I'll wait for someone else to accept the challenge – Prallax Aug 28 '21 at 20:25
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    see this post and links therein https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/30005/how-does-string-theory-predict-gravity – Kosm Aug 28 '21 at 20:29
  • Thanks, I didn't it all that informative. I was hoping also for something addressing this issue of quanta of electrical fields. – Sam Cottle Aug 28 '21 at 20:34
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    @SamCottle It has nothing to do with electromagnetism. Perturbative string theory automatically has massless spin-2 particles, and any reasonable theory with interacting massless spin-2 particles has gravity. For a nonperturbative perspective, the AdS/CFT correspondence is the most-studied framework so far. (That's not an answer, just a couple of sentences with keywords to point you in the right direction, because I don't think a one-post answer is feasible.) – Chiral Anomaly Aug 28 '21 at 20:57
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    What you might've read is that string theorists make use of dimensional reduction which was originally formalized as part of a different theory by Kaluza and Klein which attempted to unify gravitational and electromagnetic fields back when people thought these were the only two forces. – Connor Behan Aug 28 '21 at 20:59
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    @ChiralAnomaly even more basic the (assumed) vanishing of the beta functions imply Einstein Field equation (for vacuum) – lalala Aug 28 '21 at 21:36
  • Possible duplicates: https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/1073/2451 , https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/54317/2451 , https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/44782/2451 and links therein. – Qmechanic Aug 28 '21 at 23:33

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