I don't think "leading" is correct, more like "ill regarded but still standing".
It has fallen far from its glory days, and is more an old reliable tool than a leading physical theory.
I don't think "leading" is correct, more like "ill regarded but still standing".
It has fallen far from its glory days, and is more an old reliable tool than a leading physical theory.
It’s correct because there is no competing theory for quantum gravity that most physicists would consider being more likely to be on the right track.
This is different from MOND, which is a distant second contender compared to dark matter.
Ok, I'll present my evidence an you can present yours.
In the latest Marcel Grossman meeting (2024) there was no string theory parallel session but there was an explicit Loop Quantum Gravity session: https://indico.icranet.org/event/8/program
So string theory is now pretty officially an "also ran", definitely not a leading theory.