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Particle physics: The race to break the standard model

Nature volume 455, pages 156–159 (2008)Cite this article

The Large Hadron Collider is the latest attempt to move fundamental physics past the frustratingly successful 'standard model'. But it is not the only way to do it. Geoff Brumfiel surveys the contenders attempting to capture the prize before the collider gets up to speed.

It is powerful; it is galling; it is doomed. The incredibly successful mathematical machine that physicists call the 'standard model' is a set of equations that describes every known form of matter, from individual atoms to the farthest galaxies. It describes three of the four fundamental forces in nature: the strong, weak and electromagnetic interactions. It predicts the outcome of one experiment after another with unprecedented accuracy. And yet, as powerful as it is, the standard model is far from perfect. Its mathematical structure is arbitrary. It is littered with numerical constants that seem equally ad hoc. And perhaps most disturbingly, it has resisted every attempt to incorporate the last fundamental force: gravity.

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  1. Geoff Brumfiel
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To read more about the LHC start-up, visit the Nature News special at http://tinyurl.com/5usrfl

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Brumfiel, G. Particle physics: The race to break the standard model. Nature 455, 156–159 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/455156a

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