Once upon a time, the Standard Model was born. This phrase, popularised by first attempts to visualise the atom, became synonymous with ideals around which our views of the Universe were created. In the early 1900s, a number of leading scientists spearheaded a campaign to delve deep into the heart of the atom and dig from it profundities which baffled many eloquent minds, including that of Einstein (who was one of them). He loathed the implications of uncertainty and non-locality, famously claiming that "God does not play dice".
Quantum mechanics was a revolution. Not just a new kind of science, but a new way of thinking about the Universe and how it was made. As classical physics faced heavy fire from its findings, scientists scrabbled for ways to constrain the uncertain and improbable, to conform the concepts they were forced to compute by means of certainties and probabilities they could conceivably work with.
Quantum mechanics was a revolution. Not just a new kind of science, but a new way of thinking about the Universe and how it was made. As classical physics faced heavy fire from its findings, scientists scrabbled for ways to constrain the uncertain and improbable, to conform the concepts they were forced to compute by means of certainties and probabilities they could conceivably work with.
The tools of the particle physicist's trade are equations. These jumbled sequences of signs and numbers are seen by those who understand them as being 'beautiful'. To those of us who haven't a clue, they are all very well, but they don't explain the esoterics of nature, they only explain the mathematics of what nature, to scientists, ought to be doing.
If you know what this equation means, you're reading this with a scientific mind. That's the kind of mind which has got us to where we are today. There's no doubt that mathematics, algebra, geometry and quadratics have given us a language which decodes natural law into a framework which can be fragmented into understandable chunks - by those who understand that language. But every language has its limitations. Every language takes words from other languages to make better sense of things it struggles in itself to define. Even then, definitions can be muddied in the attempt to pin down logic when the true intention is to describe a situation. As President George Bush put it, "The French don't have a word for entrepreneur".
Let's just recall for a minute that we inhabit the Milky Way, and the Goldilocks Zone is the bit we live in. Subatomic particles have colours and flavours and spin (when in fact not a single one of these descriptions has anything to do with the behaviours they seek to describe). When I hit the mainstream particle physics scene with a vengeance born of a drive to understand it, Supersymmetry was the new kid on the block. SUSY (for short) was the donkey to which all particle reactions should pin their tail. Busily stuffing SUSY into every lecture on quantum conundrums up and down the farthest reaches of the globe, scientists were sure this was the grail from which the GUT (grand unified theory) would emerge. Only, despite their stringent efforts to force symmetry upon the Universe, the Universe wasn't playing ball.
As Dr Ben Still put it on the evening of Thursday 18th October, "Supersymmetry is dying a death."
As Dr Ben Still put it on the evening of Thursday 18th October, "Supersymmetry is dying a death."
On this chart, you'll find some (but by no means all) of the inhabitants of the Particle Zoo. Some (by no means all) of those missing are the Axion, Gluon, Neutralino, Wino, Positron, and Tau. The article linked behind the picture explains more. The Quark and Neutrino have at least three different types within their own species - all this is, bear in mind, a catalogue drawn from particles that can't be seen. The entire Zoo is comprised of entities which are visualised from equation, experimentation, and guesswork.
These days, the hottest totty cruising the scientific streets is Dark Matter, cloaked by the equally mysterious Dark Energy. When the Higgs Boson hit the catwalk (recently earning its namesake the Nobel Prize), a new buzz of excitement and speculation murmured around the Halls of Academia.
New Physics, they claim, is born.
These days, the hottest totty cruising the scientific streets is Dark Matter, cloaked by the equally mysterious Dark Energy. When the Higgs Boson hit the catwalk (recently earning its namesake the Nobel Prize), a new buzz of excitement and speculation murmured around the Halls of Academia.
New Physics, they claim, is born.
I'm interested to discover that science and art is forging an alliance, if a somewhat uneasy alliance, in following a trend to make physics 'accessible' to the public (see previous Blog on this site). Exhibitions and collections and creative liaisons are breaking the surface tension which has always existed between academia and the artisan. Yet still in deeper waters, covetousness lurks. Household hero Prof. B. Cox has yet to abandon his edict that "The Uncertainty Principle is a doorway through which all kinds of charlatans and purveyors of tripe can force their philosophical musings."
The fact is, the Universe thrives on playing dice, entertaining itself with the notion that every question answered by a miniscule mind will merely present a more difficult question. Everything in the Universe is unique - getting our heads around that is hard enough. Every possibility of everything that is possible has an equal chance of being actualised, and probably will be somewhere, for our Universe is not alone. This dimension sits cosy and warm in a multitude of other Dimensions, and all are melding themselves into the fabric of what is now called the Multiverse, a term describing the many and varied Universes of which ours is merely one.
Are we really seeing the emergence of New Physics? Or are we seeing a new seasonal collection of equations ready to strut their stuff into the halls of fame? Whichever way you look at it, progress is unstoppable, and we really are going where no-one has gone before. "Hold tight, Robin, there's a damsel in distress. Her name is SUSY, and if we don't get to her soon....."
Are we really seeing the emergence of New Physics? Or are we seeing a new seasonal collection of equations ready to strut their stuff into the halls of fame? Whichever way you look at it, progress is unstoppable, and we really are going where no-one has gone before. "Hold tight, Robin, there's a damsel in distress. Her name is SUSY, and if we don't get to her soon....."
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