Supersymmetry Or Multiverse?
The Higgs Boson Decides.
JUZER VASI `24
Introduction July 4th, 2012. For most Americans, this Independence Day was filled with its usual festivities: get-togethers, outdoor barbeques, and fireworks lighting up the endless night sky. Across the Atlantic Ocean, particle physicists in Geneva were also celebrating something remarkable: the detection of a particularly elusive fundamental particle integral to the structure of the universe, the Higgs Boson. The presence of the particle was confirmed by physicists operating the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)—the world’s largest and fastest particle accelerator—at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The confirmation of the particle’s existence represented an inflection point in the understanding of the universe, and garnered much attention within the circles of theoretical and particle physicists. After analysis, the Higgs would either suggest that the fundamental nature of the universe relies on an ordered model of elementary particles, such as supersymmetry, or undermine basic understandings of the universe by suggesting a “many worlds” universe known colloquially as the multiverse theory. The very structure of reality was to be determined by one specific property of the infinitesimally small particle: its mass. As CERN set out to calculate the mass of the detected Figure 1 The particles composing the particle, physicists around the globe held their breath. Standard Model of particle physics.
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The Standard Model of Particle Physics Before discussing CERN’s findings, it is integral to first understand the Higgs Boson itself as well as the competing fundamental theories of supersymmetry and the multiverse. As the Higgs Boson exists in a quantum state, it is crucial to discuss the fundamentals at the basis of particle physics. Atoms are not the true building blocks of the universe. To physicists, protons and neutrons represent another layer of matter composed of incredibly small elementary particles influenced by fundamental forces. As the field of quantum mechanics has developed over time, more of these particles and forces have been detected and compiled into the Standard Model of Particle Physics based on their properties. While the Standard Model (SM) bears much credence, it is still a changing mathematical theory; it is not perfect, and requires the support of supplementary theories to fully explain other phenomena in the universe. Tara Shears, particle physicist at the University of Liverpool, cogently describes the two core groups of the SM in her research: elementary particles known as fermions, and fundamental forces known as bosons. In total there are 12 fermions—six quarks and six leptons—that comprise the true fundamental building blocks of all known matter in the universe. Aside from electrons—a type of lepton—quarks are the most well known of the elementary particles as they combine
