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Genome
and the Unified Field The excitement generated by the successful genome mapping parallels the enthusiasm of the physicists with their discovery of the unification of the laws of nature. Although, it may appear that there is no resemblance between these two momentous deciphering of nature's secrets, in fact there is a tantalizing hint that nature may have repeated its pattern in some aspect of functioning of the genome and the unified field. Although we still lack a mathematically consistent formulation of the unified field, its existence is widely anticipated. All types of energy observed in the universe turned out to be merely different forms of manifestation of only one substance. So, it is most likely that the fields controlling the energy will eventually be shown to be coming from one universal source. Unification of the electromagnetic and the weak nuclear fields has been demonstrated conclusively. Recent observation of neutrino oscillations lends strong support to the theories of grand unification, which combines the strong nuclear field to the electro-weak field as well as unify the quarks and the lepton fields. Gravity is the only force field, which have so far eluded our attempts for its unification to the other force fields, though the progress in string/M theory appears to be quite promising in proving the unification of all the fields of nature. It would be fair to say that most physicists would agree with the words of Nobelist Steven Weinberg, "If history is any guide at all, it seems to me to suggest that there is a final theory." Therefore, we are not likely to be amiss in placing our confidence in the existence of the unified field. Two of Nature's Similar Patterns The human genome consisting of the twenty-three pairs of chromosomes, being is present in the very first cell, the fertilized ovum, possesses the blueprint of an entire human body. After creating the body, it is also present in each cell of the body, controlling the basic aspects of the bodily functions. Although a small percentage of the genome is active in an adult cell and this percentage of expression determines the proper functioning of the particular cell. Still the genome of each cell possesses the entire blueprint of the whole body. This has been conclusively demonstrated by cloning from the genome of adult cells. An analogous behavior is suggested in the action of the Unified Field. String theory indicates (1) that an element of space has a smallest possible size, which is roughly equal to nature's unit of length, the Planck length. Furthermore, according to modern cosmology, the universe at inception most likely started out as a Planck-sized nugget embodying the unified field. The unified field, containing the blueprint of the entire universe and being present in the initial element of space, sequentially unfolded to generate this universe as it cooled by expansion. After generating the universe, as would be apparent from the following discussions, it is also present in every Planck's dimension everywhere today, in a quantum physical way, thereby determining all underlying aspects of at least everything physical in this universe. Thus, the analogous functioning of the genome and the unified field indicates that nature has repeated it pattern. Quantum Physical Presence of Unification Quantum field theory is able to explain one of the most mysterious aspects of quantum mechanics that identical fundamental particles are absolutely identical anywhere in the universe, because the same underlying field creates them. Hence, Wilczek (2) asserts, " In quantum field theory, the primary elements of reality are not individual particles, but underlying fields. Thus, for example, all electrons are but excitations of an underlying field, naturally called the electron field, which fills all space and time." In the standard model of particle physics, we construct all fundamental particles as excitations of their respective fields. We encounter two types of fields in nature, the matter fields and the force fields. The matter fields package energy to produce the building blocks of matter, the fermions. The force fields, through their carrier particles, the bosons, govern the interactions of matter producing the physical reality. All these underlying quantum fields are present in all space at all times throughout the universe, even in a vacuum. Furthermore, the fields must be always fluctuating in conformity with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Presence of vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field is well documented by observation of a variety of phenomena, such as the Lamb shift and the Casimir effect. However, these vacuum fields are subject to specific organization at fundamental distance scales. In fact, Wilczek (3) maintains, "According to modern quantum physics the vacuum, which evolution has selected us to regard as an empty background, is in reality a highly structured, responsive and dynamic medium." This structuring of vacuum can best be understood in terms of nature's symmetry principle. As Green (4) observes, "One overarching lesson we have learned in the last fifty years is that all forces are associated with nature's symmetry principles." Forces exhibit their separate identity when nature's symmetry is spontaneously broken. For example, the electromagnetic and the weak nuclear force show their disparate properties at ordinary distances since the electro weak symmetry is broken. However, Georgi (5) maintains, "If you do an experiment that probes the structure of the word at distances much smaller than 10-16 cm, you will see SU (2) x U (1) as an explicit (though approximate) symmetry." Unification of the electromagnetic and the weak forces has indeed been demonstrated experimentally by probing distances near 10-16 cm. For the strong force, Wilczek (3) proffers, "When we calculate where the unification takes place, we find a truly remarkable result. The strong electromagnetic and weak couplings, which are significantly different when measured at 'practical' distances, are calculated to become equal when measured at distances about 17 orders of magnitude smaller-near the Planck unit of distance." The unification of strong, weak and electromagnetic forces is surmised to occur when the SUSY GUT symmetry is restored at about 10-30 cm, additionally, unification of all the fermions as members of one family. This process can be understood more graphically as a further consequence of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. When the vacuum fluctuations get large enough, they can create transient pairs of particle and anti-particle of the various fields. Along with the particle creation and annihilation, the wild fluctuations of the electromagnetic, weak and strong fields create quantum frenzy on the microscopic scales. Because of the uncertainty principle, this frenzied behavior gets increasingly energetic on ever-smaller distance and time scales. The renormalizable quantum field theories carefully take these effects of the high energy quantum frenzy into account to calculate the coupling strength of the various fields as a function of distance and to show that the symmetries will be restored gradually at fundamentally short distances of the vacuum, even though they are broken at practical distances. Wilczek (3) contends further that, "From its much inferior strength at accessible energies, gravity ascends to equality with the other interactions at roughly the Planck scale. Thus, we discover that all the coupling strengths become equal simultaneously. Even in the absence of a detailed theory we find here a concrete, semi-quantitative indication that all of the basic forces arise from a common source. "Unification of bosons and fermions is also summarized to be facilitated by super symmetry at the Planck's scale, where all the fields behave as just different aspects of one field, the super-unified field or the unified field, in short. All of nature's symmetries are thought to have been manifest at the very high temperature characteristic of the onset of the universe. As the temperature of the universe dropped by expansion, spontaneous symmetry breaking occurred sequentially and all the four forces of nature as well as all the fermions acquired their separate attributes. However, can we still have unification of the vacuum quantum fields today in absence of the high temperatures? In quantum field theory, physics at fundamentally small distances is said to be comparable to physics at high temperatures. Our earlier discussion in fact illustrate that as we proceed to small distances toward the very fabric of space near Planck's dimension today, all the symmetries are expected to be gradually restored in steps along with the associated unification, just as progressive unification is believed to have been present at high and higher temperatures in the very early stages of the universe. Since the vacuum fields are present in all space, their unification should occur gradually as the dimension of space decreases to very short distances and the various symmetries are restored. Finally, at the very fabric of space, the Plank's dimensions, all the underlying, fluctuation quantum fields of nature are surmised to be unified today in a quantum physical way, even in absence of the high temperature typical of the beginning of the universe.
References M.L. Bhaumik is a retired physicist and a fellow of the American Physical Society as well as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. |