Classical unified field theories version of the general-relativistic field equation expressed the property that the universe was "self-gauging". Since the simplest cosmological model (the De Sitter universe) that solves that equation is a spherically symmetric, stationary, closed universe (exhibiting a cosmological red shift, which is more conventionally interpreted as due to expansion), it seemed to explain the overall form of the universe. Like many other classical unified field theorists, Eddington considered that in the Einstein field equations for general relativity the stress–energy tensor formula_1, which represents matter/energy, was merely provisional, and that in a truly unified theory the source term would automatically arise as
Classical field theory For the second, the most prominent example arises from the concept of the affine connection that was introduced into the theory of general relativity mainly through the work of Tullio Levi-Civita and Hermann Weyl. Further development of quantum field theory changed the focus of searching for unified field theory from classical to quantum description. Because of that, many theoretical physicists gave up looking for a classical unified field theory. Quantum field theory would include unification of other two fundamental forces of nature, strong and weak nuclear force which act on subatomic level. Classical field theory A classical field theory is