From Tommy Ohlsson, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
The editorial and cover story in your 10 November issue (p 3 and p 34) discuss the aftermath of this year’s grandest scientific finding – the discovery of a new boson, most likely the Higgs – along with a possible successor to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
First, we must clarify beyond doubt that the particle is the Higgs boson. Then, the LHC needs to find signs of new physics beyond the standard model. As for what comes after the LHC, I believe it is too early to develop a new machine. The LHC will operate for many years to come, and it is unclear that taxpayers want to invest in a huge new particle physics project. For now, we should be patient, optimistic, and use the powers of the LHC.
No disrespect to the intellectual giants analysing the LHC results, but as a non-physicist, the look at how the emerging nature of the Higgs is confounding hopes of discovering new physics reads like a script from The Goon Show.
I wonder, are the thought processes of these particle physicists so deeply embedded in this world of sparticle dancing partners that they forget it’s not reality they are describing, but a human interpretation of experimental results.
Advertisement
Mount Waverley, Victoria, Australia
Stockholm, Sweden
