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Quantum gravity (open question)

This page delivers no verdict; it presents claims and evidence with their sources. No theory in science is absolute. Method

⑂ Divergence of views. Views diverge on this question; each prong on the tree is one position.

For everyone

General relativity and quantum mechanics are each very successful in their domains, but they have not been combined into a single theory. String theory and loop quantum gravity are the main candidates. No distinctive prediction of either has yet been tested by experiment, and their scientific status is debated among physicists.

For specialists

The perturbative quantisation of general relativity is non-renormalisable at two loops (Goroff–Sagnotti 1986). String theory is a framework that naturally includes gravity and requires extra dimensions and supersymmetry. It has produced strong mathematical results such as the AdS/CFT correspondence, but it faces a "landscape" of roughly 10⁵⁰⁰ vacua. Loop quantum gravity is a background-independent canonical quantisation that predicts discrete spectra for area and volume.

Positions

String theory proponents
String theory is the only known framework that consistently unifies gravity with the other interactions.[1]
Loop quantum gravity proponents
Quantum gravity should be built by quantising spacetime itself, without extra dimensions.[2]
Critical view
Theories that make no testable predictions are problematic for scientific method, and string theory has received disproportionate resources.[3][4]

Open questions

Connections

Parent

Physics

Related

Interpretations of quantum mechanics

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Sources

  1. BookPolchinski, J. (1998). String Theory (2 vols.). Cambridge University Press
  2. BookRovelli, C. (2004). Quantum Gravity. Cambridge University Press
  3. BookSmolin, L. (2006). The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
  4. BookWoit, P. (2006). Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law. Jonathan Cape, London

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Cite this page

APA

Athena contributors. (2026). Quantum gravity (open question). Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/kuantum-kutlecekim/

BibTeX
@misc{athena_kuantum_kutlecekim,
  title        = {Quantum gravity (open question)},
  author       = {{Athena contributors}},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/kuantum-kutlecekim/}},
  note         = {Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Accessed: 2026-11-01}
}

Added: September 27, 2026 · Last changed: September 27, 2026 · Page history

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