Why Physics Needs, And Deserves, A Post-LHC Collider
“If what we observe and measure is identical to what the Standard Model predicts, then we haven’t found anything new. So far, that’s what the LHC has revealed: particles that behave in perfect accord with the Standard Model.
But there might be new particles out there. There might be new physics, new forces, new interactions, new couplings, or any slew of exotic scenarios. Some of them are scenarios we haven’t even yet envisioned, but the dream of particle physics is that new data will lead the way. As we peel back the veil of our cosmic ignorance; as we probe the energy frontiers; as we produce more and more events, we start obtaining data like we’ve never had before.”
There are some big differences between theorists and experimentalists. Theorists look at the big picture, come up with their preferred hypotheses and ideas, and work to create a consistent, predictive framework that provide possible signatures of what might extend our knowledge of the Universe. But experimentalists have, as their main goal, to gather more data and probe what is currently unknown. Both work hard to extend our knowledge of the Universe, but experimental results are useful and interesting in their own right, regardless of what truths they do or do not reveal. To some, the LHC’s results, discovering a Standard Model Higgs, and nothing else new, have led to a nightmare scenario.
But the real nightmare would be if we didn’t ask the Universe the next set of questions that a future collider experiment could answer. Learn what could come next today!
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