🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 31 (from laksa149)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa031.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2018/09/string-theory-landscape\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2018/09/string-theory-landscape\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/stories\/2018\/09\/string-theory-landscape","crawl_time":1774450871,"first_indexed_time":0,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"edu,stanford!news,\/stories\/2018\/09\/string-theory-landscape s443","src_root_hash":"9619766982384267031","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"The String Theory Landscape | Stanford Report","meta_descriptions":["The most recent update to the Big Bang theory, called the String Theory Landscape, arose out of elements of string theory and cosmic inflation. The theory’s inclusion of a multiverse and its denial of immutable physical laws has raised debates that continue to this day. This story is part 1 of a five-part series."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"September 10th, 2018\n| \n1\n min read\nScience & Engineering\nThe most recent update to the Big Bang theory, called the String Theory Landscape, arose out of elements of string theory and cosmic inflation.\nThe Big Bang theory describes the abrupt origins of space and time from a swiftly unfurling singularity – a hot, dense point of pure potential, packed impossibly full with eternity and the rudiments of creation. As with the universe it seeks to explain, the theory is endlessly evolving. Ever since its proposal nearly a century ago, physicists have revised and remade it to reflect new scientific concepts and discoveries.\nThe latest draft of the scientific story of genesis is called the String Theory Landscape. Entwined at its heart are two of the strangest and most enduring ideas in modern physics – string theory and cosmic inflation – which Stanford physicists helped bring together nearly two decades ago.\nString theory asserts that the basic building blocks of reality are vibrating, one-dimensional loops of energy that quiver in 10 or more dimensions to strum out the elementary particles and fundamental forces of nature.\nCosmic inflation holds that the Big Bang began with a period of exponential expansion that swelled our universe from a fragile quantum speck to a vast manor of emptiness a quarter-billion-light-years wide in a flicker of a flicker of time.\nAccording to the theory, this heavenly sprawl still occurs in distant corners of the cosmos, spinning out a web of related daughter universes that connect to form a much larger “multiverse.”\nFor decades, the two theories circled one another, each advancing along a seemingly unique track and independently gaining momentum among physicists, until an unexpected discovery drove them together. The String Theory Landscape was born in the wake of their collision – and physics has never been quite the same since.\nIt was an “earthquake that caused enormous consternation and controversy among theoretical physicists,” wrote\nLeonard Susskind\n, the Felix Bloch Professor in Physics at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences, in his 2005 book\nThe Cosmic Landscape\n.\n“It probably bothered the first human beings who realized that the world was not just their local valley. It probably terrified them a little bit, but by now we’re used to the world getting bigger and bigger. The String Theory Landscape just says it’s way bigger than we thought.”\n—Leonard Susskind\nAn old debate\nThe String Theory Landscape rekindled the ashes of an old debate in physics, one that smolders to this day. On one side are those who contend, as Albert Einstein once did, that the laws of nature are elegant, immutable and inevitable, and that they can be discovered and described through mathematics. In contrast, most Landscape proponents believe that while the underlying equations of string theory may be simple and elegant, the\nsolutions\nto those equations are tremendously complex and infinitely diverse.\nThis diversity, they say, is key to explaining certain baffling features of our universe, like the fact that several parameters in physics and cosmology appear to be curiously fine-tuned for life forms like us to exist. Perhaps the most glaring example is the cosmological constant, which relates to a universal repulsive force that is pushing space-time apart. Physicists have struggled to explain why the tiny value of this constant just happens to lie within the narrow band that allows stars and planets to form and biological life to evolve. But if there are innumerable universes, each with differing laws of physics, then it should not be surprising that we inhabit one where the cosmological constant is small – if things were any different, we could not exist to marvel at the coincidence.\nAndrei Linde, professor of physics.\n(Image credit: L.A. Cicero)\n“The String Theory Landscape potentially explains many properties of our world,” said physicist\nAndrei Linde\n, the Harald Trap Friis Professor at Stanford. “It may explain not just the cosmological constant, but also why the mass of the proton and neutron are almost exactly the same, why the electron mass is so small, and why we live in a universe with three dimensions of space and not 10. There is no other theory that can do that.”\nThe String Theory Landscape also rouses fierce emotions because it touches upon questions that cut to the heart of modern physics and science in general. If gravity’s strength can vary from one universe to the next, what is the point of trying to understand its extraordinary weakness in our universe? And if a theory can’t make testable predictions, is it still science? “One dominant view in the community is that believing in the Landscape might have the negative effect of leading people away from fundamental physics, so we shouldn’t even discuss it,” said\nShamit Kachru\n, who holds the Wells Family Directorship of the\nStanford Institute for Theoretical Physics (SITP)\n.\nLandscape supporters say the theory is just the latest helping of humble pie that humanity has had to swallow as its sense of privilege in the universe has been slowly effaced by centuries of scientific progress. “It probably bothered the first human beings who realized that the world was not just their local valley,” Susskind said. “It probably terrified them a little bit, but by now we’re used to the world getting bigger and bigger. The String Theory Landscape just says it’s way bigger than we thought.”\nAuthor\nKer Than","attrs_markdown":"[Skip to content](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/stories\/2018\/09\/string-theory-landscape#main-content)\n\n[![Stanford University](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/__data\/assets\/file\/0023\/176063\/stanford-university-white.svg)](https:\/\/www.stanford.edu\/)\n\nMenu\n\n- [University News](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/university-news)\n- [Research & Scholarship](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/research-and-scholarship)\n- [On Campus](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/on-campus)\n- [Student Experience](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/student-experience)\n***\n- [Videos](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/video)\n- [Community Profiles](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/profile)\n- [In the News](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/in-the-news)\n- [University Updates](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/university-updates)\n- [Announcements](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/announcement)\n- [Recent Stories](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/news-archive)\n***\n- [Contact](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/contact)\n- [Subscribe](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/subscribe)\n- [Media Contacts](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/media-contacts)\n- [Press Center](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/press-center)\n\n- [Contact](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/contact)\n- [Press Center](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/press-center)\n\n- [Contact](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/contact)\n- [Press Center](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/press-center)\n***\n- [Community Engagement](https:\/\/community.stanford.edu\/)\n- [Admissions](https:\/\/admission.stanford.edu\/)\n- [Giving](https:\/\/giving.stanford.edu\/)\n- [Events](https:\/\/events.stanford.edu\/)\n\n- [VPSA](https:\/\/studentaffairs.stanford.edu\/)\n- [VPUE](https:\/\/undergrad.stanford.edu\/about-vpue)\n- [VPGE](https:\/\/vpge.stanford.edu\/)\n- [R\\&DE](https:\/\/rde.stanford.edu\/)\n\n- [Cardinal at Work](https:\/\/cardinalatwork.stanford.edu\/)\n- [University IT](https:\/\/uit.stanford.edu\/)\n- [Department of Public Safety](https:\/\/police.stanford.edu\/)\n- [Stanford Transportation](https:\/\/transportation.stanford.edu\/)\n\nClose menuClose\n\nToggle SearchSearchClose\n\n[![Stanford Report](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/__data\/assets\/file\/0034\/128995\/sr-logo-color.svg)](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/)[![Stanford Report](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/__data\/assets\/file\/0035\/128996\/srlogo_light.svg)](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/)\n\n# The String Theory Landscape\n## Read next:\n\nPreferencesShow me...\n\nFaculty\/Staff\n\nStudent\n\n## Along with Stanford news and stories, show me:\n- Student information\n- Faculty\/Staff information\n\nWe want to provide announcements, events, leadership messages and resources that are relevant to you. Your selection is stored in a browser cookie which you can remove at any time using “Clear all personalization” below.\n\nClear all personalization\n***\n\nClose preferencesClose\n\n- [University News](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/university-news)\n- [Research & Scholarship](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/research-and-scholarship)\n- [On Campus](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/on-campus)\n- [Student Experience](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/student-experience)\n\n## Stanford Report cookie usage information\nWe want to provide stories, announcements, events, leadership messages and resources that are relevant to you. Your selection is stored in a browser cookie which you can remove at any time by visiting the \"Show me...\" menu at the top right of the page. For more, read our [cookie policy](https:\/\/www.stanford.edu\/cookie-policy).\n\nAccept\n\nDecline\n\nSeptember 10th, 2018\n\n\\| 1 min read\n\n[Science & Engineering](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/research-and-scholarship\/topic\/science-and-engineering)\n# The String Theory Landscape\nThe most recent update to the Big Bang theory, called the String Theory Landscape, arose out of elements of string theory and cosmic inflation.\n\n![](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/__data\/assets\/image\/0022\/152707\/Landscape1-banner.jpg)\n\nThe String Theory Landscape combines elements of string theory and cosmic inflation to greatly expand the scope of the Big Bang theory to incorporate the idea of infinite universes in a vast multiverse. (Image credit: Eric Nyquist)\n\nThe Big Bang theory describes the abrupt origins of space and time from a swiftly unfurling singularity – a hot, dense point of pure potential, packed impossibly full with eternity and the rudiments of creation. As with the universe it seeks to explain, the theory is endlessly evolving. Ever since its proposal nearly a century ago, physicists have revised and remade it to reflect new scientific concepts and discoveries.\n\n## Landscape theory\nRead the full [five-part series](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/2018\/09\/10\/landscape-theory\/).\n\n1. **The String Theory Landscape**\n2. [A cosmic symphony of vibrating strings](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/2018\/09\/11\/cosmic-symphony-vibrating-strings\/)\n3. [The fractal universe](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/2018\/09\/12\/the-fractal-universe\/)\n4. [Lambda leads the way](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/2018\/09\/13\/lambda-leads-way\/)\n5. [Exploring the landscape](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/2018\/09\/14\/exploring-the-landscape\/)\n\nThe latest draft of the scientific story of genesis is called the String Theory Landscape. Entwined at its heart are two of the strangest and most enduring ideas in modern physics – string theory and cosmic inflation – which Stanford physicists helped bring together nearly two decades ago.\n\nString theory asserts that the basic building blocks of reality are vibrating, one-dimensional loops of energy that quiver in 10 or more dimensions to strum out the elementary particles and fundamental forces of nature.\n\nCosmic inflation holds that the Big Bang began with a period of exponential expansion that swelled our universe from a fragile quantum speck to a vast manor of emptiness a quarter-billion-light-years wide in a flicker of a flicker of time.\n\nAccording to the theory, this heavenly sprawl still occurs in distant corners of the cosmos, spinning out a web of related daughter universes that connect to form a much larger “multiverse.”\n\nFor decades, the two theories circled one another, each advancing along a seemingly unique track and independently gaining momentum among physicists, until an unexpected discovery drove them together. The String Theory Landscape was born in the wake of their collision – and physics has never been quite the same since.\n\nIt was an “earthquake that caused enormous consternation and controversy among theoretical physicists,” wrote [Leonard Susskind](https:\/\/profiles.stanford.edu\/leonard-susskind), the Felix Bloch Professor in Physics at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences, in his 2005 book *The Cosmic Landscape*.\n\n![Leonard Susskind](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/__data\/assets\/image\/0016\/152710\/Susskind-crop.jpg)\n\n> “It probably bothered the first human beings who realized that the world was not just their local valley. It probably terrified them a little bit, but by now we’re used to the world getting bigger and bigger. The String Theory Landscape just says it’s way bigger than we thought.”\n> \n> —Leonard Susskind\n> \n> Professor of Physics\n## An old debate\nThe String Theory Landscape rekindled the ashes of an old debate in physics, one that smolders to this day. On one side are those who contend, as Albert Einstein once did, that the laws of nature are elegant, immutable and inevitable, and that they can be discovered and described through mathematics. In contrast, most Landscape proponents believe that while the underlying equations of string theory may be simple and elegant, the *solutions* to those equations are tremendously complex and infinitely diverse.\n\nThis diversity, they say, is key to explaining certain baffling features of our universe, like the fact that several parameters in physics and cosmology appear to be curiously fine-tuned for life forms like us to exist. Perhaps the most glaring example is the cosmological constant, which relates to a universal repulsive force that is pushing space-time apart. Physicists have struggled to explain why the tiny value of this constant just happens to lie within the narrow band that allows stars and planets to form and biological life to evolve. But if there are innumerable universes, each with differing laws of physics, then it should not be surprising that we inhabit one where the cosmological constant is small – if things were any different, we could not exist to marvel at the coincidence.\n\n![portrait of Andre Linde, professor of physics, in front of a blackboard of equations](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/__data\/assets\/image\/0013\/151042\/Linde.jpg)\n\nAndrei Linde, professor of physics. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)\n\n“The String Theory Landscape potentially explains many properties of our world,” said physicist [Andrei Linde](https:\/\/profiles.stanford.edu\/andrei-linde), the Harald Trap Friis Professor at Stanford. “It may explain not just the cosmological constant, but also why the mass of the proton and neutron are almost exactly the same, why the electron mass is so small, and why we live in a universe with three dimensions of space and not 10. There is no other theory that can do that.”\n\nThe String Theory Landscape also rouses fierce emotions because it touches upon questions that cut to the heart of modern physics and science in general. If gravity’s strength can vary from one universe to the next, what is the point of trying to understand its extraordinary weakness in our universe? And if a theory can’t make testable predictions, is it still science? “One dominant view in the community is that believing in the Landscape might have the negative effect of leading people away from fundamental physics, so we shouldn’t even discuss it,” said [Shamit Kachru](https:\/\/profiles.stanford.edu\/shamit-kachru), who holds the Wells Family Directorship of the [Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics (SITP)](https:\/\/sitp.stanford.edu\/).\n\nLandscape supporters say the theory is just the latest helping of humble pie that humanity has had to swallow as its sense of privilege in the universe has been slowly effaced by centuries of scientific progress. “It probably bothered the first human beings who realized that the world was not just their local valley,” Susskind said. “It probably terrified them a little bit, but by now we’re used to the world getting bigger and bigger. The String Theory Landscape just says it’s way bigger than we thought.”\n\n### Author\nKer Than\n\n### Related topics\n[Science & Engineering](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/research-and-scholarship\/topic\/science-and-engineering)\n\n[Physics](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/research-and-scholarship\/topic\/science-and-engineering\/physics)\n\n[Space](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/research-and-scholarship\/topic\/science-and-engineering\/space)\n\n### Share this story\nCopy link\n\n![](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/_designs\/component-service\/images\/20251125_Carolyn_Bertozzi_95A1016-3.jpg)\n\n## Research Matters\nGroundbreaking innovations that begin in Stanford labs flow freely into private industry to improve human well-being, fuel the economy, and strengthen American competitiveness.\n\n[Learn more about research at Stanford](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/features\/research-at-stanford)\n## Stories for you\n## Popular stories\n1. 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CopyrightStanford University. Stanford, California 94305.","attrs_readable_markdown":"September 10th, 2018 \\| 1 min read[Science & Engineering](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/research-and-scholarship\/topic\/science-and-engineering)\n\nThe most recent update to the Big Bang theory, called the String Theory Landscape, arose out of elements of string theory and cosmic inflation.\n\nThe Big Bang theory describes the abrupt origins of space and time from a swiftly unfurling singularity – a hot, dense point of pure potential, packed impossibly full with eternity and the rudiments of creation. As with the universe it seeks to explain, the theory is endlessly evolving. Ever since its proposal nearly a century ago, physicists have revised and remade it to reflect new scientific concepts and discoveries.\n\nThe latest draft of the scientific story of genesis is called the String Theory Landscape. Entwined at its heart are two of the strangest and most enduring ideas in modern physics – string theory and cosmic inflation – which Stanford physicists helped bring together nearly two decades ago.\n\nString theory asserts that the basic building blocks of reality are vibrating, one-dimensional loops of energy that quiver in 10 or more dimensions to strum out the elementary particles and fundamental forces of nature.\n\nCosmic inflation holds that the Big Bang began with a period of exponential expansion that swelled our universe from a fragile quantum speck to a vast manor of emptiness a quarter-billion-light-years wide in a flicker of a flicker of time.\n\nAccording to the theory, this heavenly sprawl still occurs in distant corners of the cosmos, spinning out a web of related daughter universes that connect to form a much larger “multiverse.”\n\nFor decades, the two theories circled one another, each advancing along a seemingly unique track and independently gaining momentum among physicists, until an unexpected discovery drove them together. The String Theory Landscape was born in the wake of their collision – and physics has never been quite the same since.\n\nIt was an “earthquake that caused enormous consternation and controversy among theoretical physicists,” wrote [Leonard Susskind](https:\/\/profiles.stanford.edu\/leonard-susskind), the Felix Bloch Professor in Physics at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences, in his 2005 book *The Cosmic Landscape*.\n\n![Leonard Susskind](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/__data\/assets\/image\/0016\/152710\/Susskind-crop.jpg)\n\n> “It probably bothered the first human beings who realized that the world was not just their local valley. It probably terrified them a little bit, but by now we’re used to the world getting bigger and bigger. The String Theory Landscape just says it’s way bigger than we thought.”\n> \n> —Leonard Susskind\n## An old debate\nThe String Theory Landscape rekindled the ashes of an old debate in physics, one that smolders to this day. On one side are those who contend, as Albert Einstein once did, that the laws of nature are elegant, immutable and inevitable, and that they can be discovered and described through mathematics. In contrast, most Landscape proponents believe that while the underlying equations of string theory may be simple and elegant, the *solutions* to those equations are tremendously complex and infinitely diverse.\n\nThis diversity, they say, is key to explaining certain baffling features of our universe, like the fact that several parameters in physics and cosmology appear to be curiously fine-tuned for life forms like us to exist. Perhaps the most glaring example is the cosmological constant, which relates to a universal repulsive force that is pushing space-time apart. Physicists have struggled to explain why the tiny value of this constant just happens to lie within the narrow band that allows stars and planets to form and biological life to evolve. But if there are innumerable universes, each with differing laws of physics, then it should not be surprising that we inhabit one where the cosmological constant is small – if things were any different, we could not exist to marvel at the coincidence.\n\n![portrait of Andre Linde, professor of physics, in front of a blackboard of equations](https:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/__data\/assets\/image\/0013\/151042\/Linde.jpg)\n\nAndrei Linde, professor of physics. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)\n\n“The String Theory Landscape potentially explains many properties of our world,” said physicist [Andrei Linde](https:\/\/profiles.stanford.edu\/andrei-linde), the Harald Trap Friis Professor at Stanford. “It may explain not just the cosmological constant, but also why the mass of the proton and neutron are almost exactly the same, why the electron mass is so small, and why we live in a universe with three dimensions of space and not 10. There is no other theory that can do that.”\n\nThe String Theory Landscape also rouses fierce emotions because it touches upon questions that cut to the heart of modern physics and science in general. If gravity’s strength can vary from one universe to the next, what is the point of trying to understand its extraordinary weakness in our universe? And if a theory can’t make testable predictions, is it still science? “One dominant view in the community is that believing in the Landscape might have the negative effect of leading people away from fundamental physics, so we shouldn’t even discuss it,” said [Shamit Kachru](https:\/\/profiles.stanford.edu\/shamit-kachru), who holds the Wells Family Directorship of the [Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics (SITP)](https:\/\/sitp.stanford.edu\/).\n\nLandscape supporters say the theory is just the latest helping of humble pie that humanity has had to swallow as its sense of privilege in the universe has been slowly effaced by centuries of scientific progress. “It probably bothered the first human beings who realized that the world was not just their local valley,” Susskind said. “It probably terrified them a little bit, but by now we’re used to the world getting bigger and bigger. The String Theory Landscape just says it’s way bigger than we thought.”\n\n### Author\nKer Than","meta_canonical":null}

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Meta Title	The String Theory Landscape \| Stanford Report
Meta Description	The most recent update to the Big Bang theory, called the String Theory Landscape, arose out of elements of string theory and cosmic inflation. The theory’s inclusion of a multiverse and its denial of immutable physical laws has raised debates that continue to this day. This story is part 1 of a five-part series.
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Boilerpipe Text	September 10th, 2018 \| 1 min read Science & Engineering The most recent update to the Big Bang theory, called the String Theory Landscape, arose out of elements of string theory and cosmic inflation. The Big Bang theory describes the abrupt origins of space and time from a swiftly unfurling singularity – a hot, dense point of pure potential, packed impossibly full with eternity and the rudiments of creation. As with the universe it seeks to explain, the theory is endlessly evolving. Ever since its proposal nearly a century ago, physicists have revised and remade it to reflect new scientific concepts and discoveries. The latest draft of the scientific story of genesis is called the String Theory Landscape. Entwined at its heart are two of the strangest and most enduring ideas in modern physics – string theory and cosmic inflation – which Stanford physicists helped bring together nearly two decades ago. String theory asserts that the basic building blocks of reality are vibrating, one-dimensional loops of energy that quiver in 10 or more dimensions to strum out the elementary particles and fundamental forces of nature. Cosmic inflation holds that the Big Bang began with a period of exponential expansion that swelled our universe from a fragile quantum speck to a vast manor of emptiness a quarter-billion-light-years wide in a flicker of a flicker of time. According to the theory, this heavenly sprawl still occurs in distant corners of the cosmos, spinning out a web of related daughter universes that connect to form a much larger “multiverse.” For decades, the two theories circled one another, each advancing along a seemingly unique track and independently gaining momentum among physicists, until an unexpected discovery drove them together. The String Theory Landscape was born in the wake of their collision – and physics has never been quite the same since. It was an “earthquake that caused enormous consternation and controversy among theoretical physicists,” wrote Leonard Susskind , the Felix Bloch Professor in Physics at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences, in his 2005 book The Cosmic Landscape . “It probably bothered the first human beings who realized that the world was not just their local valley. It probably terrified them a little bit, but by now we’re used to the world getting bigger and bigger. The String Theory Landscape just says it’s way bigger than we thought.” —Leonard Susskind An old debate The String Theory Landscape rekindled the ashes of an old debate in physics, one that smolders to this day. On one side are those who contend, as Albert Einstein once did, that the laws of nature are elegant, immutable and inevitable, and that they can be discovered and described through mathematics. In contrast, most Landscape proponents believe that while the underlying equations of string theory may be simple and elegant, the solutions to those equations are tremendously complex and infinitely diverse. This diversity, they say, is key to explaining certain baffling features of our universe, like the fact that several parameters in physics and cosmology appear to be curiously fine-tuned for life forms like us to exist. Perhaps the most glaring example is the cosmological constant, which relates to a universal repulsive force that is pushing space-time apart. Physicists have struggled to explain why the tiny value of this constant just happens to lie within the narrow band that allows stars and planets to form and biological life to evolve. But if there are innumerable universes, each with differing laws of physics, then it should not be surprising that we inhabit one where the cosmological constant is small – if things were any different, we could not exist to marvel at the coincidence. Andrei Linde, professor of physics. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero) “The String Theory Landscape potentially explains many properties of our world,” said physicist Andrei Linde , the Harald Trap Friis Professor at Stanford. “It may explain not just the cosmological constant, but also why the mass of the proton and neutron are almost exactly the same, why the electron mass is so small, and why we live in a universe with three dimensions of space and not 10. There is no other theory that can do that.” The String Theory Landscape also rouses fierce emotions because it touches upon questions that cut to the heart of modern physics and science in general. If gravity’s strength can vary from one universe to the next, what is the point of trying to understand its extraordinary weakness in our universe? And if a theory can’t make testable predictions, is it still science? “One dominant view in the community is that believing in the Landscape might have the negative effect of leading people away from fundamental physics, so we shouldn’t even discuss it,” said Shamit Kachru , who holds the Wells Family Directorship of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics (SITP) . Landscape supporters say the theory is just the latest helping of humble pie that humanity has had to swallow as its sense of privilege in the universe has been slowly effaced by centuries of scientific progress. “It probably bothered the first human beings who realized that the world was not just their local valley,” Susskind said. “It probably terrified them a little bit, but by now we’re used to the world getting bigger and bigger. The String Theory Landscape just says it’s way bigger than we thought.” Author Ker Than
Markdown	[Skip to content](https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2018/09/string-theory-landscape#main-content) [![Stanford University](https://news.stanford.edu/__data/assets/file/0023/176063/stanford-university-white.svg)](https://www.stanford.edu/) Menu - [University News](https://news.stanford.edu/university-news) - [Research & Scholarship](https://news.stanford.edu/research-and-scholarship) - [On Campus](https://news.stanford.edu/on-campus) - [Student Experience](https://news.stanford.edu/student-experience) * - [Videos](https://news.stanford.edu/video) - [Community Profiles](https://news.stanford.edu/profile) - [In the News](https://news.stanford.edu/in-the-news) - [University Updates](https://news.stanford.edu/university-updates) - [Announcements](https://news.stanford.edu/announcement) - [Recent Stories](https://news.stanford.edu/news-archive) * - [Contact](https://news.stanford.edu/contact) - [Subscribe](https://news.stanford.edu/subscribe) - [Media Contacts](https://news.stanford.edu/media-contacts) - [Press Center](https://news.stanford.edu/press-center) - [Contact](https://news.stanford.edu/contact) - [Press Center](https://news.stanford.edu/press-center) - [Contact](https://news.stanford.edu/contact) - [Press Center](https://news.stanford.edu/press-center) * - [Community Engagement](https://community.stanford.edu/) - [Admissions](https://admission.stanford.edu/) - [Giving](https://giving.stanford.edu/) - [Events](https://events.stanford.edu/) - [VPSA](https://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/) - [VPUE](https://undergrad.stanford.edu/about-vpue) - [VPGE](https://vpge.stanford.edu/) - [R\&DE](https://rde.stanford.edu/) - [Cardinal at Work](https://cardinalatwork.stanford.edu/) - [University IT](https://uit.stanford.edu/) - [Department of Public Safety](https://police.stanford.edu/) - [Stanford Transportation](https://transportation.stanford.edu/) Close menuClose Toggle SearchSearchClose [![Stanford Report](https://news.stanford.edu/__data/assets/file/0034/128995/sr-logo-color.svg)](https://news.stanford.edu/)[![Stanford Report](https://news.stanford.edu/__data/assets/file/0035/128996/srlogo_light.svg)](https://news.stanford.edu/) # The String Theory Landscape ## Read next: PreferencesShow me... Faculty/Staff Student ## Along with Stanford news and stories, show me: - Student information - Faculty/Staff information We want to provide announcements, events, leadership messages and resources that are relevant to you. Your selection is stored in a browser cookie which you can remove at any time using “Clear all personalization” below. Clear all personalization * Close preferencesClose - [University News](https://news.stanford.edu/university-news) - [Research & Scholarship](https://news.stanford.edu/research-and-scholarship) - [On Campus](https://news.stanford.edu/on-campus) - [Student Experience](https://news.stanford.edu/student-experience) ## Stanford Report cookie usage information We want to provide stories, announcements, events, leadership messages and resources that are relevant to you. Your selection is stored in a browser cookie which you can remove at any time by visiting the "Show me..." menu at the top right of the page. For more, read our [cookie policy](https://www.stanford.edu/cookie-policy). Accept Decline September 10th, 2018 \\| 1 min read [Science & Engineering](https://news.stanford.edu/research-and-scholarship/topic/science-and-engineering) # The String Theory Landscape The most recent update to the Big Bang theory, called the String Theory Landscape, arose out of elements of string theory and cosmic inflation. ![](https://news.stanford.edu/__data/assets/image/0022/152707/Landscape1-banner.jpg) The String Theory Landscape combines elements of string theory and cosmic inflation to greatly expand the scope of the Big Bang theory to incorporate the idea of infinite universes in a vast multiverse. (Image credit: Eric Nyquist) The Big Bang theory describes the abrupt origins of space and time from a swiftly unfurling singularity – a hot, dense point of pure potential, packed impossibly full with eternity and the rudiments of creation. As with the universe it seeks to explain, the theory is endlessly evolving. Ever since its proposal nearly a century ago, physicists have revised and remade it to reflect new scientific concepts and discoveries. ## Landscape theory Read the full [five-part series](https://news.stanford.edu/2018/09/10/landscape-theory/). 1. The String Theory Landscape 2. [A cosmic symphony of vibrating strings](https://news.stanford.edu/2018/09/11/cosmic-symphony-vibrating-strings/) 3. [The fractal universe](https://news.stanford.edu/2018/09/12/the-fractal-universe/) 4. [Lambda leads the way](https://news.stanford.edu/2018/09/13/lambda-leads-way/) 5. [Exploring the landscape](https://news.stanford.edu/2018/09/14/exploring-the-landscape/) The latest draft of the scientific story of genesis is called the String Theory Landscape. Entwined at its heart are two of the strangest and most enduring ideas in modern physics – string theory and cosmic inflation – which Stanford physicists helped bring together nearly two decades ago. String theory asserts that the basic building blocks of reality are vibrating, one-dimensional loops of energy that quiver in 10 or more dimensions to strum out the elementary particles and fundamental forces of nature. Cosmic inflation holds that the Big Bang began with a period of exponential expansion that swelled our universe from a fragile quantum speck to a vast manor of emptiness a quarter-billion-light-years wide in a flicker of a flicker of time. According to the theory, this heavenly sprawl still occurs in distant corners of the cosmos, spinning out a web of related daughter universes that connect to form a much larger “multiverse.” For decades, the two theories circled one another, each advancing along a seemingly unique track and independently gaining momentum among physicists, until an unexpected discovery drove them together. The String Theory Landscape was born in the wake of their collision – and physics has never been quite the same since. It was an “earthquake that caused enormous consternation and controversy among theoretical physicists,” wrote [Leonard Susskind](https://profiles.stanford.edu/leonard-susskind), the Felix Bloch Professor in Physics at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences, in his 2005 book The Cosmic Landscape. ![Leonard Susskind](https://news.stanford.edu/__data/assets/image/0016/152710/Susskind-crop.jpg) > “It probably bothered the first human beings who realized that the world was not just their local valley. It probably terrified them a little bit, but by now we’re used to the world getting bigger and bigger. The String Theory Landscape just says it’s way bigger than we thought.” > > —Leonard Susskind > > Professor of Physics ## An old debate The String Theory Landscape rekindled the ashes of an old debate in physics, one that smolders to this day. On one side are those who contend, as Albert Einstein once did, that the laws of nature are elegant, immutable and inevitable, and that they can be discovered and described through mathematics. In contrast, most Landscape proponents believe that while the underlying equations of string theory may be simple and elegant, the solutions to those equations are tremendously complex and infinitely diverse. This diversity, they say, is key to explaining certain baffling features of our universe, like the fact that several parameters in physics and cosmology appear to be curiously fine-tuned for life forms like us to exist. Perhaps the most glaring example is the cosmological constant, which relates to a universal repulsive force that is pushing space-time apart. Physicists have struggled to explain why the tiny value of this constant just happens to lie within the narrow band that allows stars and planets to form and biological life to evolve. But if there are innumerable universes, each with differing laws of physics, then it should not be surprising that we inhabit one where the cosmological constant is small – if things were any different, we could not exist to marvel at the coincidence. ![portrait of Andre Linde, professor of physics, in front of a blackboard of equations](https://news.stanford.edu/__data/assets/image/0013/151042/Linde.jpg) Andrei Linde, professor of physics. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero) “The String Theory Landscape potentially explains many properties of our world,” said physicist [Andrei Linde](https://profiles.stanford.edu/andrei-linde), the Harald Trap Friis Professor at Stanford. “It may explain not just the cosmological constant, but also why the mass of the proton and neutron are almost exactly the same, why the electron mass is so small, and why we live in a universe with three dimensions of space and not 10. There is no other theory that can do that.” The String Theory Landscape also rouses fierce emotions because it touches upon questions that cut to the heart of modern physics and science in general. If gravity’s strength can vary from one universe to the next, what is the point of trying to understand its extraordinary weakness in our universe? And if a theory can’t make testable predictions, is it still science? “One dominant view in the community is that believing in the Landscape might have the negative effect of leading people away from fundamental physics, so we shouldn’t even discuss it,” said [Shamit Kachru](https://profiles.stanford.edu/shamit-kachru), who holds the Wells Family Directorship of the [Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics (SITP)](https://sitp.stanford.edu/). Landscape supporters say the theory is just the latest helping of humble pie that humanity has had to swallow as its sense of privilege in the universe has been slowly effaced by centuries of scientific progress. “It probably bothered the first human beings who realized that the world was not just their local valley,” Susskind said. “It probably terrified them a little bit, but by now we’re used to the world getting bigger and bigger. The String Theory Landscape just says it’s way bigger than we thought.” ### Author Ker Than ### Related topics [Science & Engineering](https://news.stanford.edu/research-and-scholarship/topic/science-and-engineering) [Physics](https://news.stanford.edu/research-and-scholarship/topic/science-and-engineering/physics) [Space](https://news.stanford.edu/research-and-scholarship/topic/science-and-engineering/space) ### Share this story Copy link ![](https://news.stanford.edu/_designs/component-service/images/20251125_Carolyn_Bertozzi_95A1016-3.jpg) ## Research Matters Groundbreaking innovations that begin in Stanford labs flow freely into private industry to improve human well-being, fuel the economy, and strengthen American competitiveness. [Learn more about research at Stanford](https://news.stanford.edu/features/research-at-stanford) ## Stories for you ## Popular stories 1. 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Readable Markdown	September 10th, 2018 \\| 1 min read[Science & Engineering](https://news.stanford.edu/research-and-scholarship/topic/science-and-engineering) The most recent update to the Big Bang theory, called the String Theory Landscape, arose out of elements of string theory and cosmic inflation. The Big Bang theory describes the abrupt origins of space and time from a swiftly unfurling singularity – a hot, dense point of pure potential, packed impossibly full with eternity and the rudiments of creation. As with the universe it seeks to explain, the theory is endlessly evolving. Ever since its proposal nearly a century ago, physicists have revised and remade it to reflect new scientific concepts and discoveries. The latest draft of the scientific story of genesis is called the String Theory Landscape. Entwined at its heart are two of the strangest and most enduring ideas in modern physics – string theory and cosmic inflation – which Stanford physicists helped bring together nearly two decades ago. String theory asserts that the basic building blocks of reality are vibrating, one-dimensional loops of energy that quiver in 10 or more dimensions to strum out the elementary particles and fundamental forces of nature. Cosmic inflation holds that the Big Bang began with a period of exponential expansion that swelled our universe from a fragile quantum speck to a vast manor of emptiness a quarter-billion-light-years wide in a flicker of a flicker of time. According to the theory, this heavenly sprawl still occurs in distant corners of the cosmos, spinning out a web of related daughter universes that connect to form a much larger “multiverse.” For decades, the two theories circled one another, each advancing along a seemingly unique track and independently gaining momentum among physicists, until an unexpected discovery drove them together. The String Theory Landscape was born in the wake of their collision – and physics has never been quite the same since. It was an “earthquake that caused enormous consternation and controversy among theoretical physicists,” wrote [Leonard Susskind](https://profiles.stanford.edu/leonard-susskind), the Felix Bloch Professor in Physics at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences, in his 2005 book The Cosmic Landscape. ![Leonard Susskind](https://news.stanford.edu/__data/assets/image/0016/152710/Susskind-crop.jpg) > “It probably bothered the first human beings who realized that the world was not just their local valley. It probably terrified them a little bit, but by now we’re used to the world getting bigger and bigger. The String Theory Landscape just says it’s way bigger than we thought.” > > —Leonard Susskind ## An old debate The String Theory Landscape rekindled the ashes of an old debate in physics, one that smolders to this day. On one side are those who contend, as Albert Einstein once did, that the laws of nature are elegant, immutable and inevitable, and that they can be discovered and described through mathematics. In contrast, most Landscape proponents believe that while the underlying equations of string theory may be simple and elegant, the solutions to those equations are tremendously complex and infinitely diverse. This diversity, they say, is key to explaining certain baffling features of our universe, like the fact that several parameters in physics and cosmology appear to be curiously fine-tuned for life forms like us to exist. Perhaps the most glaring example is the cosmological constant, which relates to a universal repulsive force that is pushing space-time apart. Physicists have struggled to explain why the tiny value of this constant just happens to lie within the narrow band that allows stars and planets to form and biological life to evolve. But if there are innumerable universes, each with differing laws of physics, then it should not be surprising that we inhabit one where the cosmological constant is small – if things were any different, we could not exist to marvel at the coincidence. ![portrait of Andre Linde, professor of physics, in front of a blackboard of equations](https://news.stanford.edu/__data/assets/image/0013/151042/Linde.jpg) Andrei Linde, professor of physics. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero) “The String Theory Landscape potentially explains many properties of our world,” said physicist [Andrei Linde](https://profiles.stanford.edu/andrei-linde), the Harald Trap Friis Professor at Stanford. “It may explain not just the cosmological constant, but also why the mass of the proton and neutron are almost exactly the same, why the electron mass is so small, and why we live in a universe with three dimensions of space and not 10. There is no other theory that can do that.” The String Theory Landscape also rouses fierce emotions because it touches upon questions that cut to the heart of modern physics and science in general. If gravity’s strength can vary from one universe to the next, what is the point of trying to understand its extraordinary weakness in our universe? And if a theory can’t make testable predictions, is it still science? “One dominant view in the community is that believing in the Landscape might have the negative effect of leading people away from fundamental physics, so we shouldn’t even discuss it,” said [Shamit Kachru](https://profiles.stanford.edu/shamit-kachru), who holds the Wells Family Directorship of the [Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics (SITP)](https://sitp.stanford.edu/). Landscape supporters say the theory is just the latest helping of humble pie that humanity has had to swallow as its sense of privilege in the universe has been slowly effaced by centuries of scientific progress. “It probably bothered the first human beings who realized that the world was not just their local valley,” Susskind said. “It probably terrified them a little bit, but by now we’re used to the world getting bigger and bigger. The String Theory Landscape just says it’s way bigger than we thought.” ### Author Ker Than
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