Thanks for the question! So throughout the passage, we can clearly tell that the author is agreeing for the most part with Carroll and Chen, which makes the author sympathetic. Here, being sympathetic with someone’s theory is to essentially be in agreement with it, or to not be skeptical of it. And the author is presenting their theory without really talking about criticisms of it in any way.
We can also see this sympathy play out in certain word choices. Describing what they’re doing as an “innovation” (line 37), for example, is a positive thing, “innovation” is a word with a generally positive connotation. And that shows that the author is sympathetic to these two physicists’ theory. Keep in mind, too, that the other choices are clearly wrong. The author isn’t dismissive, a skeptic, or an adversary, easily eliminating (A), (B), and (C). While the author does support them, the author is far from being “zealous,” and so (E) is out too.
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.
