String theory/ Particle accelerators/ The theory of everything

[Darkpassenger]

I have dose some research on string theory and particle accelerators and

The theory of everything. Unfortunately after doing so i found that i had

used up all the space i had left up in my brain. so here is my dilemma

i would like to know exactly what it is that will occur when the LHC comes

back on line. After sends particles whirling at each other and then eventually

smashing into one another creating tiny explosions. And after we collect

the data from theses explosions. what exactly are they looking to discover

that will "Hopefully" Make super string theory or M theory or whatever is

the new theory on the block at the time, a viable and solution for the theory

of everything combining everything from the very small to the very large.

 

 

If you can please state you answers in every easy to understand statement,

For i am still a mer Lepton and can not fully compute the far advanced language that you superior beings are talking in. Thanks

[insane_alien]

if we knew exactly what was going to happen then we wouldn't need to have spent all that money building it.

 

what happens will be this:

 

we turn it on and start colliding while collecting an unprecedented amount of data and analysing it, this will take a lot of time but once we have have done a large amount of analysis,

 

1/ we find the higgs boson, learn how gravity works and can discard several theories that say it shouldn't be there and keep the ones that do.

 

2/ we don't find the higgs boson and can discard the theories that say it should be there and we learn something new

 

3/ we find something unexpected and we learn something new and have to have a good think about it for a while.

 

whatever happens, the field of quantum mechanics will make some rather large leaps.

[Darkpassenger]

Thank you very much for your reply. That info helps a good deal, OK so now lets say we find this new particle, how dose this Help us fill the gaps for the theory of everything. How dose this join the Forces of the very small and the very large?

[insane_alien]

you would have to ask a physicist about that, i only have a rudimentary knowledge of it and thats probably way oversimplified.

 

my understanding that the higgs boson would explain why particles have mass(which the current model fails to explain IIRC)

[Martin]

I have dose some research on string theory and particle accelerators and

The theory of everything. Unfortunately after doing so i found that i had

used up all the space i had left up in my brain. so here is my dilemma

i would like to know ...

 

If you read Brian Greene books you may have set yourself up to be confused and disappointed by physics coming out of LHC and space observatories over the next 5 years.

 

You could make space in your brain by clearing out the stringy stuff and reading something more reliably in touch with what are likely to be the real developments.

 

There is a new book by a Nobel prize winner particle physicist named Frank Wilczek that is written in a non-math popular style for wide audience but is in close touch with reality. Have a look at the amazon page:

http://www.amazon.com/Lightness-Being-Ether-Unification-Forces/dp/0465003214/

 

It's an amazing book and got enthusiastic reception including raves from three other Nobel physics laureates. Make sure your local library has the book. It's fun to read, understandable and right on target. What kinds of results to expect from LHC and so forth over the next 5-10 years. Where fundamental particle physics is going. No string hype, wishful thinking, airy speculation.

 

Very different from Brian Greene stuff. Check it out.

[Darkpassenger]

Thank you very much for this linking me info on this subject i will look in to this book and will most likely order it in the next few days i am always open minded to new prospectives and ideas and if it is written the ways you said it is then i should enjoy it very much thanks again.

[Klaynos]

The higgs is predicted by the standard model. We already know the standard model is incomplete (it predicts massless neutrinos and they have mass), so we need to work out why, what we're missing. If we find the higs it means that's not the problem and it's something else, that something else might also be created/observed in the LHC which would be quite nice

[Baby Astronaut]

what happens will be this:

 

we turn it on and start colliding while collecting an unprecedented amount of data and analysing it, this will take a lot of time but once we have have done a large amount of analysis,

 

1/ we find the higgs boson, learn how gravity works and can discard several theories that say it shouldn't be there and keep the ones that do.

 

2/ we don't find the higgs boson.........

If we find the higs.....

What if the Higgs is in there but only a special instrument can detect it, however we don't realize that, mistakenly believe it's not there, and discard certain theories when we shouldn't have?

[insane_alien]

well, we don't actually directly detect the particles, we detect how they interact with everything else.

 

and anyway, if the scenario you propose happens then it is not the particle we would call the higgs boson, it would be something else, the third scenario i proposed.

[Reaper]

To add on to what IA said above:

 

We really can't directly detect most subatomic particles because they are much too small, or decay much too quickly, or have too much energy, etc. All we can reliably detect are photons or electrons.

 

 

What happens most of the time is that we can infer their existence, by observing the effects and events that go on inside the particle accelerator. If a given effect is observed at a specific energy level, then we know that it must be due to some particle...

[Baby Astronaut]

Ah. Makes sense. Appreciate your responses.

 

Martin, thanks for the helpful link to that book. A friend had recommended Fabric of the Cosmos but I should probably avoid it, huh?

 

Anyone interested can find the closest libraries with the book. Or any library item for that matter.

[truedeity]

One of many things they wish to uncover is the Higgs Boson.

[ajb]

Don't forget stringy ideas completely. I expect that the Higgs Boson(s) and supersymmetry will be found. But the reality is we have to wait and see...