On July 4 , 2012 , scientist at CERN confirmed the observation of the Higgs boson , an primary particle first proposed in the 1960s . The boson ’s discovery was a momentous juncture , as it mean physicists were a step closer to probing the field associate with the boson , which gives particle mass .
But since 2012,particle physics has n’t had another seismic event . significant discoveries have been made — measurement were taken of themuon ’s behavior in a magnetic field , the W boson ’s mass wasmore exactly measured , andnew particles have been notice — but nothing as jaw - dropping as the Higgs confirmation .
But we ’re not pessimistic : There are many absorbing experiments currently afoot that may furnish the next braggart spring in our understanding of the subatomic universe . So we call for several physicists about where they think that find may happen . The below responses have been condensed and light edited for clarity .
The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector in a tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider.Photo: VALENTIN FLAURAUD/AFP (Getty Images)
Paul Padley
The next big thing in physic will be a good reason of dark matter . A number of facility will turn on and permit us to search the nature of dark matter significantly well than has been achieved to date . For example , the High Luminosity - LHC will increase by an decree of magnitude the number of Higgs bosons that we have to study , and we will be able to study their property with awful precision .
That in turn will give us a new window through which to explore the dark subject that pervades the universe , as any deviations from Standard Model predictions will point us in the commission of the fresh physics involved . Other new facilities , such as theCosmic Microwave Background Stage 4(CMB - S4 ) , will go in a interchangeable time frame . It will be possible to conflate the results from these different facilities to paint our full picture yet of the dark subject that pervades the universe .
Michael Turner
theoretic cosmologist at the University of Chicago
Here are five possibilities , at least as dear as the Higgs .
1 ) Discovery of the dark affair particle . We have an airtight case that there is 5x more matter than corpuscle ( in any form ) can describe for ( > 50 sigma ) . We have good candidates — the lightest supersymmetry particle and the axion — and experiments with the potentiality of making a discovery . The blue matter problem has been with us almost 100 years and is ripe to be solve . When it is we will close out a mystery , notice a newfangled descriptor of matter , and open a fresh doorway to studying the first microsecond of the Universe . What more could you require for !
2 ) Discovery of the key signature of ostentation - produced gravitative wave in the polarisation of the Cosmic Microwave Background . If the “ B - modality ” polarization signature is discovered and sustain , this would tell us when inflation take position as well as being the oldest relic in cosmology . ( If detected , these gravitational undulation would have been produced when the Universe was 10 ^ -36 sec old . ) It is not an easy project , but the experiments / experimenter are up to it : the signal is a the nanoKelvin degree in the CMB ( whose temperature is 2.76 K ) .
3 ) Confirmation that the Hubble discrepancy is substantial . Namely , that the enlargement pace directly measured today is not equal to that quantify at 400,000 years ( cosmic microwave oven background knowledge measuring ) and extrapolated forward using our current cosmological prototype ( Lambda CDM ) . Both measuring can be correct if something is miss from Lambda CDM .
4 ) The breakthrough of supersymmetry at CERN . A whole novel world of particles and the first big nursing home run for superstring theory .
5 ) Something unexpected at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational - Wave Observatory ( LIGO ) . As we know and care to say , it is the unexpected discovery at a new adeptness like LIGO or telescope or accelerator that is the most transformational . LIGO has been a fantastic success , but all the events it has discovered were the I foretell : conglutination of two black holes , two neutron stars , and a black hole and a neutron star . How about a surprise ? ( e.g. , like pulsars or Quasars of the mid sixties )
I wo n’t even mention signboard of life elsewhere ( e.g. , Venus , a moon of Jupiter or Saturn , or in the atmosphere of an exoplanet ) . This is work to happen , the only question is when and where .
Freya Blekman
So this is also a sort of intriguing post that we ’re in , that we were n’t in when we were dealing with the Standard Model Higgs boson . With the Standard Model Higgs boson , you fundamentally had a squeamish saber saw mystifier and you were overlook this one piece . You sort of fuck the shape of the while , and then you looked in the boxful and you establish the shape of the composition and you put it in . What we have now is a box full of 3-D or possibly 2D mystifier art object . You ’re not really indisputable . And they just say , ‘ yeah , there should be something there . Have playfulness . ’
According to the Standard Model , how often the Higgs boson interact or falls asunder — these two things are interchangeable for particle physicists — that sort of depends on the mass of the other molecule of the Higgs , for that subject . That means that you could presage ( if you know the mass of all these particle ) how often they should be made . When you make a Higgs boson , often the Higgs boson should make those mote . And this is the kind of stuff that we ’ve been check out for the last year : seeing that the Higgs boson decays to Z bosons , seeing that the Higgs boson decay to W bosons , seeing that it decays to Tau leptons , to B quarks , if it then it interact with top quarks . Recently that it can crumble to muons — those kinds of things are all tests of intragroup consistency of the Standard Model in the hope that we recover something that is discrepant , that will guide us to see where where the Standard Model start out weaken .
There are a few very exciting saturnine thing experiments come online again . If they see something , [ the LHC ] can change our selection so that we can contain if we can also reproduce this in a consistent manner . And that ’s because that ’s really what these mote detectors are very upright at : once you have it away what you ’re looking for , it ’s very easygoing to find an algorithm to sort of isolate these particles .
I ’m cite to the Xenon experiment and the LUX - Zeplin experiment . Both of them have been upgraded over the last years and they ’re now come in online again . These experimentation are liberal army tank of xenon ( which is why they all have X ’s in their name ) , and all of them are hoping that the Earth is move through gloomy thing and the experimentation is standing on the Earth , and that dark matter will then the Xenon atom and they can notice that atom bounce around .
The expectation that these kinds of experimentation should produce something groundbreaking , Nobel Prize - bring home the bacon every five old age is unrealistic . This is long - term science where you ask to plan things and you need vast datasets that are extremely unmanageable to analyze .
Patrick Koppenburg
speck physicist at Nikhef and a contributor to the LHCb experiment at CERN
Presently , we are preparing for the LHC restart with a marque - new LHCb detector ( dubbed “ LHCb Upgrade I ” ) , so all the excitement is into bring the new sensing element to crop , as well as the data processing chemical chain , which is what I work on .
The main finish for us will be to pinpoint the “ flavour anomalies ” in particles containing b quark cheese . I am very excited that these exhibit a discrepancy with the Standard Model : There seem to be too few b quarks transform into pairs of muons as compared to electron . I come out this cogitation in LHCb 10 years ago , so will watch it very close . The enormous amount of data point we will be amass in the next 10 years will tell us .
If this is true , it requires a new force of nature affiliate to ( at least ) one new boson . It could be a Z ’ boson , similar to the known Z , or something altogether unlike , like leptoquarks ( or both ) . Either room , that would be a revolution in molecule physics .
The next question is whether these new corpuscle can be produced at the LHC . There are some “ prominence ” in the data designate by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the Moriond conference in March . These may be first signs of the unexampled particles make the flavour anomalies . But experience has show that such bumps disappear with more data point . So rent ’s see .
If the LHC is of too low vim to produce these new bosons , we need another machine . That could be the brute force of Future Circular Collider ( FCC ) and its 100 klick and energy 7 clock time large than the LHC . Or a much smaller but more challenging muon collider . Depending on what make the anomaly ( still hoping they will survive scrutiny with more datum ) , a muon collider may be the ideal tool : if we have a trouble with muons , rent ’s use muons to regain out .
David Toback
Physicist at Texas A&M University and a voice for the CDF collaborationism
I see two big potential breakthroughs in physics over the next 10 twelvemonth in purgative . The first is that with the recent observation by the CDF experimentation at Fermilab that the mass of theW - boson is 7 received deviations away from expectations , there will be a world focus on this potential break in the Standard Model of Particle Physics . This is passing unmanageable mensuration to make , but the pass rival at the LHC , the ATLAS and CMS experiments , have fabulously powerful detector and mint of data coming .
If the result is confirm , and there is no variety in the Standard Model prediction , then this must entail there is some fresh fundamental particle(s ) or force(s ) in nature that necessitate to be discovered and then understood . Ideally , any such discovery would provide a clue to realize the moody matter that fills the universe .
For tenner , physicist and astronomers have basically assume that the disconsolate topic is made up of fundamental particle . The next generation of dark matter experimentation are coming online , and within the next 10 years are expected to have enough sensitivity to keep an eye on the individual dark matter mote fundamental interaction , if that ’s how nature is ( and the current best conjecture that take into history cosmogeny are right ) . If they do n’t , then this would signalise a fundamental shift key in our guesses about the nature of dark issue and how it came to exist in our universe .
Either fashion , between these two flying field , our understanding of the fundamental particles that occupy the universe has a good opportunity of fundamentally change within the next 10 yr , or we will be looking to interpret in very dissimilar room , since nature is so stingy with her secrets .
It ’s not clear if the LHC can attain disconsolate matter . The HOPE is that it can make blue matter particles ( if they exist ) , but that requires that they can produced in collisions between protons . If so , we have a shot . Another possibility is that the LHC can produce particles that decay into sullen affair particles . That wasthe promise of supersymmetry , but that has n’t pan off out . If they can produce them , then the Leslie Townes Hope is with lots of collisions , and great detectors , we could discover them . If they ca n’t bring on dark matter particles , or it ’s super rarefied … then they are n’t in the plot . It ’s an interesting experimentation to do either way of life , but it ’s explore unmapped territorial dominion . Totally worth doing , but eminent - risk high reward .
My personal surmise is that they will be find with a dedicated , deep cloak-and-dagger demodulator . Since we are quite sure that the whitish Way is full of dark thing , I think it ’s a reasonably good stakes that if dark issue is a particle then it should be flow through the Earth for devoid ( just like neutrino ) . Thus , the question is whether the grim matter detectors like CDMS or LZ are massive enough or sensitive enough to note an fundamental interaction ( again , assuming they interact at all ) .
Higgs bosonParticle physicsPatrickPhysical sciencesPhysics
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