It's a sad day when journalists know more particle physics than the people who are paid to do it. As
Strassler points out, the
NYT ran a story with the perfectly reasonable words:
The Higgs boson is the keystone and last undiscovered piece of the so-called Standard Model ... If the Higgs boson does not exist, theorists will have to go back to their blackboards.
Strassler, however, felt it necessary to correct this statement to:
The Standard Model Higgs boson is the keystone and last undiscovered piece of the so-called Standard Model ... If the Standard Model Higgs boson does not exist ... it will imply (as has been known for decades) that there must be other particles — perhaps multiple Higgs bosons, and/or perhaps other types of particles — that physicists have not yet discovered, but should be able to discover with the LHC.
I hate to break it to you, Dr Strassler, but it IS possible that you are wrong. Yes, completely wrong.
Wrong, so wrong. What will happen if no Higgs is found? It makes us suspicious of "standard models" in Physics or cosmology.
ReplyDeleteWhat will happen? Well, we can already see what will happen. I have heard a number of stringers and loopies claim that they are not at all surprised and they always knew this was a possibility. In fact, they are already trying to take credit for the new physics. One person I know actually made a claim recently, stating exactly the same reason that he used to ban me from his blog some time ago. So, they are quite capable of destroying people's careers, and then taking credit for all their ideas.
ReplyDeleteThe pile of evidence against 'standard' cosmology and particle physics is now, er, overwhelming, shall we say?