Test and prediction score: 100% correct since 2014.
 
                              JARS
 

Even the faintest whisper about the unification of physics must stand up to experiment with new tests and new predictions. The present page lists those high-precision predictions and tests that were deduced from the simple, fundamental principle of the strand tangle model by Christoph Schiller. The positive and negative aspects of strands are also evaluated. Donors who want to support strand tangle research can get a money-back guarantee if any single prediction given below is falsified.

 
● All predictions about fundamental physics summarized in four short parts
● Tests with particle experiments – of part 1 of the predictions
● Tests with gravity experiments – of part 2 of the predictions
● Theoretical tests – of parts 3 and 4 of the predictions
● Present limitations and timeline of the predictions
● What speaks against the strand tangle model
● What speaks in favour of the strand tangle model
● Support – with a money-back guarantee for donors and sponsors
 

All predictions about fundamental physics summarized in four short parts

1. No deviation from the standard model of particle physics with massive Dirac neutrinos and PMNS mixing will ever be observed – including no exception to the invariant local limits c, ℏ and ℏ/c. (This part 1 of the prediction, summarizing all textbook particle physics since 1973, agrees with all data.)
 
2. No deviation from general relativity (at sub-galactic distances) will ever be observed – including no exception to the invariant local limits c, c5/4G, c4/4G, c3/4G and c2/4G. (This part 2 of the prediction, summarizing textbook physics on gravitation from 1915, 1973 and 2002, includes the impossibility to observe unknown relativistic quantum gravity effects and agrees with all data.)
 
3. Every observation in elementary particle physics is explained by the fundamental Planck-scale principle of the strand tangle model, i.e., by Dirac's trick at the Planck scale. The assumptions are minimal, clear and unmodifiable. No other, inequivalent approach will achieve this completeness of explanation while agreeing with all experiments. (This part 3 of the prediction, made in 2014, agrees with all data.)
 
4. Calculating the fundamental constants of the standard model – the mass of the electron and the other elementary particles, the fine structure constant and the nuclear coupling constants, and all mixing angles and CP phases – is possible with strands. No other, inequivalent approach will achieve this calculation. (This part 4 of the prediction, made in 2014, agrees with all data – though one other, inequivalent approach, by Tejinder Singh, is also trying hard.)
 
The research page lists papers and preprints explaining how these predictions result from the fundamental principle. The rest of the present page shows how to test and to falsify the predictions and thus, the tangle model itself.

 Top

Tests with particle experiments – of part 1 of the predictions:

 Top

Tests with gravity experiments – of part 2 of the predictions:
  • 2.1/1.1 If any deviation from the 9 lines summarizing physics is ever found, the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 2.2 If any deviation of any kind is observed from general relativity (and its Hilbert Lagrangian) at sub-galactic distances – including doubly special relativity, deformed special relativity, different vacua, twistors, or conformal gravity – the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 2.3 If any local momentum flow or force larger than the corrected Planck limit c4/4G or any local power/luminosity larger than the corrected Planck limit c5/4G is observed, the strand tangle model is falsified. They correspond to about 50 700 solar masses per second. Also if any local mass flow larger than c3/4G or any mass to length ratio above c2/4G is observed, the strand tangle model is falsified. Also if physical speeds above c, singularities of any kind, curvature values above the corrected Planck limit, or mass densities above the corrected Planck limit are observed, the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 2.4 If the gravitational constant G changes with energy or if deviations from the Unruh effect or the equivalence principle are observed, the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 2.5 If the charge limit for black holes, their angular momentum limit, their magnetic moment limit, the hoop conjecture, or the Penrose conjecture is violated, the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 2.6 If any observed or observable property for any type of black hole is in contrast with the strand tangle model, the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 2.7 If the corrected Planck values are not the smallest measurable length and time intervals, or if the size indeterminacy of a physical system can be smaller than the energy indeterminacy divided by the maximum force, the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 2.8 If any new relativistic quantum gravity effect – such as the detection of single gravitons, the quantum interference of gravitational fields, microscopic black holes, fermionic coordinates, non-commutative spacetime, different vacua, positive results in the SpaceQUEST satellite experiment, or relativistic quantum gravity effects of the vacuum on distant galaxy images – is discovered, the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 2.9 If the strand tangle model about gravitation is contradicted by future observations in any way – such as a non-trivial topology of space, time-like loops, wormholes, geons, cosmic strings, cosmic domain walls, yet undiscovered black hole remnants, dilatons, torsion, a number of spatial dimensions different from three, negative energy regions, particle masses that vary over space and time, or any of the additional tests mentioned in the publication on the topic or on the dedicated web page on relativistic quantum gravity – then the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 2.10 In cosmology, if inflation is confirmed, if any new elementary dark matter particle is discovered (however, see the limitations below), or if the universe's integrated luminosity is or ever was above c5/4G, the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 2.11 If the quantum of action ℏ changes in the solar system, as predicted by Minazzoli in https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.03824, the strand tangle model is falsified.

 Top

Theoretical tests – of parts 3 and 4 of the predictions:
  • 3.1 If any other non-equivalent approach for unification ever agrees with experiment – including additional or grand unified gauge groups, technicolor, supersymmetry, preons, additional dimensions, see-saw mechanisms, supergravity, superstring theory, loop quantum gravity, M theory, membranes, ribbon models for elementary particles, causal dynamical triangulations, quantum foam, amplituhedrons, torsion, multiverse, knot models for elementary particles, micro-wormholes, non-commutative space-time, causal fermion systems, sedenions, Planck-scale black holes, holography, but also any other, future unification approach – the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 3.2 If any other non-equivalent explanation for the mass hierarchy of elementary particles is found – i.e., one not due to tangle topology and shape – the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 3.3 If the validity in nature of the principle of least action is ever explained in any way that differs from the strand tangle model – i.e., that differs from minimizing crossing switch number – the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 3.4 If the elementary particle spectrum (with all quantum numbers) or the elementary particle interactions (with their gauge groups and all other properties) are not determined by specific tangle families, their topological properties and their deformations, but by any other, inequivalent structure, the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 3.5 If any concept used in fundamental physics – from wave functions to spatial curvature – is ever explained in a way that differs from the strand tangle model, the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 3.6 If the Planck scale is ever found not to play a role in nature, then the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 3.7 If the Clay Millennium Prize problem about the existence of Yang-Mills theories and mass gaps is ever solved in any way that differs from the strand tangle model – as described in this text – the strand tangle model is falsified. See the official problem description and, for example, the Encyclopedia of Mathematics on the axioms of quantum field theory. The strand tangle model predicts that no non-trivial Yang-Mills theory on R4 other than the two known ones is possible. This is in contrast with the statement of the problem. The strand tangle model also suggests that SU(3) yields glueballs (new in 2022) and thus a finite mass gap.
  • 3.8 If Hilbert's sixth problem about the axiomatic formulation of physics is solved in any way that differs from the strand tangle model – which states that no axiomatic system for all of physics is possible, just a consistent description, and that axiomatic systems are only possible for parts of physics – the strand tangle model is falsified. See the Encyclopedia of Mathematics about the problem. For example, the strand tangle model states that at Planck energy, nature does not consist of parts. Any counter-example falsifies the strand tangle model.
  • 3.9 If a background-free description of motion is ever achieved, the strand tangle model is falsified. "Background-free" would mean observer-free.
  • 3.10 If the strand tangle model – i.e., the tangle model of elementary particles, the strand model of space, or the weave model of horizons – is found to be incomplete, inconsistent, modifiable, easy to vary, a special case of a more general theory, not unified, in disagreement with observations, or otherwise not final, the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 3.11 If the existence of fundamental constants in the standard model – couplings, masses and mixings – is not due to fluctuating strands, the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 3.12 If the values of the fundamental constants of the standard model – fine structure constant, nuclear couplings, masses, and mixings – which are calculated from strand fluctuations disagree with experiments, the strand tangle model is falsified.
  • 3.13 If the number of spatial dimensions is ever explained in a different way than by strands – tangling of strands is not possible in other dimensions – the strand tangle model is falsified. (The argument was made by many researchers independently of strands.)
  • 3.14 If any equation of motion or Lagrangian for the fundamental degrees of freedom, any unified equation of motion, or any unified Lagrangian - containing both general relativity and the standard model but differing from them - is ever found to describe nature, the strand tangle model is falsified. (Arguments are in this article.)
  • 3.15 If any observation or question – such as the matter-antimatter ratio in the universe – remains unexplained or unanswered in the strand tangle model, the strand tangle model is falsified. (However, see also the next section.)

 Top

Present limitations and timeline of the predictions
  • The strand tangle model does not yet include specific values for many fundamental constants, only upper and lower limits. As the preprints explain, the mathematical challenge involves statistical tangle geometry and is tough.
    In particular, the approximation for the fine structure constant needs improvements.
    Also, as the publication on QED explains, strands predict massive Dirac neutrinos with very low mass. However, only rough estimates for the upper and lower limits are possible so far.
  • The tangle–particle assignments could still be wrong, especially those for the leptons and the weak bosons.
  • Strands reproduce cosmology: strands predict an expanding cosmological horizon, a realistic matter density, the lack of inflation, the equality of inertial and gravitational mass in cosmology, the existence of dark energy, and the lack of unknown elementary dark matter particles. However, strands did not yet yield definite predictions about (1) the time dependence of the cosmological constant and (2) possible deviations from general relativity at galactic and cosmological distances. These two issues are in work.

The predictions have no end in time. The aim remains to extend the list of tests in cosmology and to improve the calculations of the fundamental constants.

 Top

What speaks against the strand tangle model
  • Everything – particles, space, horizons – is made of strands? That is crazy. (Yes.)
  • Every particle and thus every human is connected to the cosmological horizon by strands? That is crazy. (Yes.)
  • The strand tangle model maintains that the standard model and general relativity can be unified without changing either theory. That is crazy: there are thousands of texts stating the opposite. (Yes.)
  • A well-known historic argument states:
    Es gibt viele Theorien,
     die sich jedem Test entziehen.
     Diese aber kann man checken,
     elend wird sie dann verrecken.
     (Indeed, strands will "die" if only a single one of the above list of tests fails.)
  • Strands deduce general relativity and the standard model from one principle. This is too simple to be true. (No. The fundamental principle shows how the (corrected) Planck units are realized in nature and is deduced from the 9 lines explaining everything in textbook physics.)
  • Strands are too simple. The tangle model is based on the statements that special relativity and Lorentz covariance follow from the local limit c, that the Dirac equation follows from the limits c and ℏ, and that the field equations of general relativity follow from the local limit c4/4G. (True. Despite publications about each of these statements, this simple description of motion is not accepted by many researchers. But it agrees with all experiments.)
  • The tangle model for particles describes events, interactions, physical processes and the full standard model with simple pictures, directly at the Planck scale, and with almost no mathematical formulae or mathematical structures. This possibility – due to the invariant Planck limits – appears unsound, unscientific or too simple to be true to most. (Yes.)
  • The strand tangle model uses almost no mathematics and provides no equation(s) of motion or Lagrangian. (True. The model also explains why one or several unified equations are impossible.)
  • The strand tangle model and the ideas leading to it have been published only in a dozen of papers. (True. More will come.)
  • Christoph Schiller has made a wrong prediction in the past, due to wrong particle tangle assignments. Why should he be right this time? (Why not? Mistakes occur. Science advances by mistakes.)
  • The lack of deviations from present theories (parts 1 and 2 of the prediction) and the existence of Planck limits contradict each other, at least at first sight. (The contradiction is only apparent.)
  • Strands predict that space is quantum and, at the same time, predict that no deviation from general relativity will be observed. (Indeed, this is what strands imply. The deviations are not measurable.)
  • Strands are demotivating. They predict the lack of physics beyond the standard model and general relativity. (Wrong! Experiments already show the lack of new physics since 1973; strands just confirm the observations. Instead, strands are motivating: just find a formula for any of the 25 fundamental constants. So far, there is no way to search for such a formula. Also, new ways to perform calculations in numerical QCD, QED and the weak interaction are predicted. Entanglement and quantum theory get a new description. Relativistic quantum gravity gets a new description. Knot theory gets a boost. Dark matter and MOND research will profit from a new approach.)
  • Strands predict that we already know "everything" in fundamental physics (parts 1 and 2 of the predictions). As every physicist knows, in the past, this prediction has always been utterly wrong. (True, but in contrast to the past, the prediction now agrees with data - since 50 years.)
  • The strand tangle model is counter-intuitive: it requires getting used to the idea that every particle in nature is tethered. This old proposal by Dirac is usually dismissed as a mere analogy with no deeper significance. (True.)
  • The strand tangle model proposes a microscopic model for quantum theory that agrees with decoherence despite the failure, without exception, of all such attempts in the past. (True.)
  • The ideas of Battey-Pratt and Racey on the Dirac equation have not been taken up by many other researchers. Several who did, such as Jean-Pierre Vigier, passed away. (True.)
  • The strand tangle model proposes a specific model for the microscopic details of space. The proposal differs from all the proposals that were and are explored in the past. (True.)
  • The strand tangle model proposes a specific model for black holes. The proposal differs from all the proposals that were explored in the past – including those of classical general relativity, firewalls and fuzzballs. (True.)
  • The strand tangle model describes quantum theory as a consequence of a minimal action – as Bohr did – and general relativity as a consequence of a maximum force – as several researchers did in the past. This view is not shared by the majority of physicists. (True.)
  • The strand tangle model predicts the lack of new relativistic quantum gravity effects, of new discoveries in particle physics, and of new discoveries in fundamental physics. This goes against the hopes, wishes or even requirements of many researchers. All of CERN is betting against the strand tangle model. CERN even wants to build a new collider. (True.)
  • The strand tangle model is not axiomatic. This contradicts the aim of most researchers. (True. Strands prove that this aim cannot be realized.)
  • There are many physics researchers, publications and books disagreeing with each prediction, including the lack of trans-Planckian effects. (True. Strands prevent trans-Planckian effects of any kind, but most other approaches include them.)
  • The strand tangle model unifies quantum field theory and general relativity, but Christoph Schiller does not work at a university any more, worked mainly alone, and is not young. (True. He also believes that truth is not determined by authority but is determined by correspondence with observations.)
  • The strand tangle model goes against fashions and avoids hype. Even though there is a relation to qubits, there is none to quantum computing. The universe is not a computer. The universe is not made of strings nor loops, but of strands. There are no higher dimensions, no supersymmetry, and no multiverse. Strands also contradict almost all other approaches to physics beyond the standard model found in the media. (True. And strands explain why they disagree with most other approaches.)
  • The strand tangle model states that the unified theory cannot be based on points, neither discrete nor in manifolds. The strand tangle model states that the unified theory cannot have equations at all. The strand tangle model states that the unified theory cannot have additional symmetries apart from U(1), broken SU(2), and SU(3). The strand tangle model implies that the four forces are not unified. The strand tangle model states that unification implies no new effects and no new energy scales. The strand tangle model states that the unified theory is completely different from all previous attempts. The strand tangle model states that the unified theory is not something earth-moving, not a holy grail, not something revolutionary, but the last piece in a puzzle. (True.)
  • The strand tangle model is not mainstream. Even in 2021, only a small percentage of theoretical physicists are known to believe part 1 of the prediction on the completeness of the standard model (arxiv.org/abs/2001.09088 by Shaposhnikov, Shkerin, and Zell is an unrelated example). Agreement with part 2 of the predictions, the correctness of general relativity and of maximum force, was rare for many years but is now increasing (arxiv.org/abs/1701.06343 by Barrow and Gibbons is an example). But almost no physicist considers the strand tangle model (parts 3 and 4 of the predictions) to be of interest. (True.)
  • Calculating the fundamental constants is a challenging mathematical problem. The final check of the strand tangle model, which includes the calculation of coupling constants and neutrino masses, has not yet been performed. (True. But predictions are the first part of the tests of any theory. The calculations are a fascinating mathematical challenge that combines knot and tangle theory, the geometry of ideal tangle shapes, and statistics.)

 Top

What speaks in favour of the strand tangle model
  1. So far, every consequence of the strand tangle model – as well as every prediction and every test – agrees with all known experiments. Starting in 2019, the predictions were listed on this page and published in physics journals. So far, all checks are positive. (More precisely, the lack of deviations from general relativity was predicted in 2000, whereas most strand predictions are from 2009 and were included in volume VI of the Motion Mountain series. The remaining strand predictions are from 2014.)
  2. The strand tangle model is based on Planck limits, including a discovery in fundamental physics that is experiencing growing interest: maximum force. This limit principle, combined with the ideas of Dirac and of Battey-Pratt and Racey, led to the fundamental principle of the strand tangle model. (If preferred, one can also take any other classical black hole property as an equivalent limit principle.)
  3. The strand tangle model is the first and only approach that explains wave functions and their observed properties. Strands explain how wave functions arise, how they interfere, and how they lead to Hilbert spaces, entanglement and decoherence.
  4. The strand tangle model is the first and only approach that explains the elementary particles and all their observed properties and does not add unobserved ones. Strands explain why there are three particle generations and why protons have the same charge as positrons.
  5. The strand tangle model is the first and only approach that explains the four interactions and their observed properties while not adding unobserved ones. Strands explain quantum field theory, the gauge groups, the gauge interaction Lagrangians, the full standard model Lagrangian, the vanishing vacuum energy and the lack of a Landau pole; strands explain the field equations of general relativity, the Hilbert Lagrangian, black hole entropy and the no-hair theorem.
  6. The strand tangle model is the first approach (of only two) that estimates the fundamental constants ab initio. Strands predict the normal neutrino mass sequence and a rough value for the weak mixing angle, ab initio, and by explaining the fine structure constant and the mass of the electron more precisely – and ab initio – strands will explain all colours in nature.
  7. The strand tangle model is the first and only approach that explains fundamental physics from a single principle. It explains the principle of least action, the dimensionality of space, all conventional "principles", and all Lagrangians used in physics. All consequences of the strand tangle model – all explanations and all predictions – derive from a single principle at the Planck scale. There is no way to modify the strand tangle model. There is no way (except by changing tangle–particle assignments) to change the predictions of the strand tangle model. No question in fundamental physics is left unanswered.
  8. Finally, the strand tangle model fits on a T-shirt, as often required. The T-shirt contains and agrees with all of textbook physics. And, of course, the strand tangle model is based only on professional physics books, papers and journals and is published only in such books and journals. And, of course, the strand tangle model gets no points on the various crackpot indices. Above all, the strand tangle model agrees with all available experimental data - but remains falsifiable. As required by science, the numerous high-precision predictions on this page, in the publications and in the preprints – and the many people working on those topics – make falsification easy in principle, as is required by any candidate theory in physics.

 Top

Support – with a money-back guarantee for donors and sponsors

For sponsoring a cup of coffee or tea, click here:

.

You can contribute to efforts towards falsifying the strand tangle model by finding an effect or by funding an experiment that detects physics beyond general relativity or beyond the standard model with massive Dirac neutrinos. Or you can contribute towards the strand tangle model and support strand research with 0.001% (10 ppm) of your or your organisation's annual budget. You will get an entry on the sponsor page. If donor anonymity is desired, it will be respected.

Are you a donor or a sponsor thinking about a medium-sized contribution? Given the promising results so far, the Motion Mountain Physikverein and Christoph Schiller make an unusual offer (since 2020): if just one of the hundreds of experimental predictions and tests given above fails, the received financial support for strand research will be refunded. In short, strand tangle model falsified, money back. This article lists the arguments.

Are you a donor or a sponsor thinking about a large contribution? In this case, the Motion Mountain Physikverein and Christoph Schiller make an additional offer (also since 2020): if another, inequivalent approach about the unification of physics arises – explaining particles and forces, estimating fundamental constants, and explaining least action and the number of dimensions – then the received financial support for strand research will also be refunded. Even if the strand tangle model is not falsified. In short, strand tangle model not unique, money back. This article lists the arguments.

Private bets about the best path to unification are a fun pastime. In the past, christoph@motionmountain.net has proposed private bets on one or several predictions of the strand tangle model. All predictions above have withstood the test of time. For various years, he has also been offering a free dinner to anybody providing a new and good argument (even if incorrect) against or in favour of the strand tangle model. This includes the first person telling him about a specific counter-example to any prediction listed above.

 Top