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Going Nowhere Fast

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Going Nowhere Fast

After the success of the Standard Model, experiments have stopped answering to grand theories. Is particle physics in crisis?

Aeon,

5 min read
3 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Physicists have proven the Standard Model of particle physics is true. Now they have to figure out why.

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Science never seems to get a chance to rest on its laurels. In 2012, experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN demonstrated the existence of the Higgs boson, the last particle predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics. The problem is that, while the Standard Model explains how the particles behave, it doesn’t explain why they should be the way they are. Physicists had hoped that “supersymmetry” would give them some answers, but data from the LHC is disappointing. Undaunted, physicists are groping their way towards a more comprehensive explanation.

Summary

The discovery of the Higgs boson confirmed the Standard Model of particle physics.

In 2012, the Standard Model of particle physics triumphed when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) demonstrated the fleeting presence of the Higgs boson.

While the Standard Model has been a great success at describing the particles that inhabit the universe, it’s unable to explain why many particles have the particular measured values they have. Since these values seem very precisely to balance out in a way to make the universe possible...

About the Author

Ben Allanach is a professor in the department of applied mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge. Along with other members of the Cambridge Supersymmetry Working Group, his research focuses on collider searches for new physics.


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