Aesthetics tells us what will break the standard-model deadlock: supersymmetry, says FrankWilczek

Read more: "Crunch time for physics: What's next?"

It is difficult to overstate the power and economy of the standard model. The discovery of theHiggs boson marks its apotheosis. More profoundly, it is the culmination of decades of bread-and-butter work. Just as to find a needle in a haystack one must thoroughly understand bothneedles and hay, to find the rare traces of the Higgs in the LHC's explosive "little bangs" we hadto know our fundamental physics. The standard model is close to nature's last word.

Yet, in its melange of forces and particles, it does not achieve complete unity and coherence.Maxwell's equations governing electrodynamics, the oldest part of the standard model, are justlyfamous for their balance and beauty. The equations of its newest part, those describing thestrong nuclear force, are also pleasingly symmetrical, but in place of one electric charge and oneforce-carrier (the photon), they demand three "colour" charges and eight gluons. The weaknuclear force introduces a further three force carriers. Altogether, the standard model looks alittle lopsided.

One can dream up bigger and better equations, with even more symmetry, to restore thebalance. Supersymmetry is the logical climax of such thoughts. It postulates a basic symmetrythat allows forces to turn into materials and materials into forces while the equations as a wholeretain the same content. That is done by doubling nature's library of particles – creating a force-carrying boson for every matter-making fermion, and vice versa.

Pursuing this path leads us to an impressive and very concrete numerical success. The new,expanded theory accurately predicts the ratios of the strengths of the strong, weak andelectromagnetic forces – parameters that the standard model leaves free.

I cannot believe this success is an accident. But in science faith is a means, not an end.Supersymmetry predicts new particles, with characteristic properties, that will come into view asthe LHC operates at higher energy and intensity. The theory will soon undergo a trial by fire. Itwill yield gold – or go up in smoke.

This article appeared in print under the headline "What's next Follow beauty"

Frank Wilczek is a theoretical physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a co-recipient of the 2004 Nobel prize in physics

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Physics crunch: Time to follow beauty?

27 February 2013 by Frank WilczekMagazine issue 2906. Subscribe and save

From issue 2906 of New Scientist magazine,page 46.

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