Gödel's undecidability theorems and the search for a theory of everything (Q6538457)

The author's purpose in this paper is to research and report on the question of whether or not Gödel's two incompleteness theorems play an important role in the search for a unified theory in theoretical physics. These are two theorems of mathematical logic that establish limitations inherent in almost all but the most trivial axiomatic systems. In a lecture given in 1979, at the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking expressed the desire to discuss the possibility that the goal of theoretical physics could be achieved shortly. By this, he meant that it would be possible to have a complete, consistent, and unified view of the theory of physical interactions that would describe all possible observations. The fact is that the unified theory of physical interactions is not available in the present day the 21st century. That is, the dreams of theoretical physics researchers to construct a final theory have not yet been realized. This is an open problem in theoretical physics, and this is what the author addresses in this paper. According to the author, Gödel's two incompleteness theorems will play an important role in research to solve this problem. In this context, the author concludes that, unless the structure of space-time is fundamentally discrete, we will never be able to deduce whether a given theory is definitive or not. According to the author, this is a relevant condition for canonical quantum gravity and string theory. In this paper the author addresses the following items: 1. The search for unification. 2. Mathematics and physics. 3. The role of quantum theory. 4. Can we decide whether a unified physics theory is the final one?