String theory deconstructed

TL;DR

This paper critically examines string theory, arguing it is not a theory of spacetime strings but rather an internal space enrichment, and reviews its historical context and conceptual misunderstandings.

Contribution

It provides a reinterpretation of string theory, clarifying misconceptions about its nature and its relation to particle localization and internal space structures.

Findings

String theory does not describe spacetime strings but internal space enrichment.

Failure of conformal embedding shows string theory's spacetime is not string-like.

String theory historically aimed to construct infinite component fields.

Abstract

This essay presents a critical evaluation of the concepts of string theory and its impact on particle physics. The point of departure is a historical review of four decades of ST within the broader context of six decades of failed attempts at an autonomous S-matrix approach to particle theory. The central message, contained in sections 5 and 6, is that string theory is not what its name suggests, namely a theory of of objects in spacetime whose localization is string- instead of point-like. The result is corroborated by the failure of the conformal embedding view: whereas the "target space" of the chiral theory (higher dimensional vector or spinor indices of currents) becomes string theories spacetime, the one-dimensional source space does not describe a string embedded in the target spacetime but rather enriches the "inner" space over each point (spin, masses). Hence string theory solves a problem which enjoyed some popularity in the 60s namely the construction of infinite component fields.