Surprising Science — March 2, 2011

Supersymmetry Could Be Wrong

The world’s leading particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, has yet to find any evidence of certain particles that physicists depend on to explain our subatomic world.

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As the Large Hadron Collider continues to smash together theory and practice, the postulates of physicists the world over are literally being put to the test: “The L.H.C. hasn’t found any supersymmetric particles yet, and they’re running out of places to hide. Will we have to come up with a new model for subatomics? The theory of supersymmetry is a favorite of many physicists because it elegantly explains a lot of basic mysteries about the subatomic world. The larger, unstable particles are responsible for quantum fluctuations that would otherwise force the particles we’re familiar with to be much, much more massive than they otherwise are.”

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