Computational complexity of the landscape: Part I

Journal Article · Tue May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Annals of Physics (New York)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aop.2006.07.013· OSTI ID:20976757

Denef, Frederik ^[1]; Douglas, Michael R ^[2]

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1. NHETC and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08855-0849 (United States)
2. NHETC and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08855-0849 (United States) and I.H.E.S., Le Bois-Marie, Bures-sur-Yvette, 91440 (France)

We study the computational complexity of the physical problem of finding vacua of string theory which agree with data, such as the cosmological constant, and show that such problems are typically NP hard. In particular, we prove that in the Bousso-Polchinski model, the problem is NP complete. We discuss the issues this raises and the possibility that, even if we were to find compelling evidence that some vacuum of string theory describes our universe, we might never be able to find that vacuum explicitly. In a companion paper, we apply this point of view to the question of how early cosmology might select a vacuum.

• OSTI ID: 20976757
• Journal Information: Annals of Physics (New York), Vol. 322, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.aop.2006.07.013; PII: S0003-4916(06)00138-2; Copyright (c) 2006 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-4916
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
COSMOLOGY
STRING THEORY
UNIVERSE