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There is an existential angst amongst particle physicists because they all understand that they are the thoroughbred pets of the scientific world. Even if the

There is an existential angst amongst particle physicists because they all understand that they are the thoroughbred pets of the scientific world. Even if they find something, it doesn't matter, because they are working in energy regimes that are not reachable in the ordinary physics of the universe as it exists today. Even the discovery that the Higgs Boson as a lighter mass than predicted, while intellectually intriguing doesn't matter outside the very small circle of high energy and theoretical physicists. In many ways, their field is already dead - they just haven't acknowledged it yet.

dav_Oz 4y ago
>because they are working in energy regimes that are not reachable in the ordinary physics of the universe as it exists today. This isn't accurate. Actually because of the higher energies (> 10 orders of magnitude) naturally found throughout the universe one could argue to concentrate more on collecting data of those relatively ubiquitous events in the observable universe instead of going through the route in obtaining some little fractions of that energy on earth. Current "records" [0] >Fastest Fermilab proton: 980 GeV; 99.999954% the speed of light; 299,792,320 m/s. Fastest LHC proton: 7 TeV; 99.999990% the speed of light; 299,792,455 m/s. Fastest LEP electron (fastest terrestrial accelerator particle): 105 GeV; 99.9999999988% the speed of light; 299,792,457.9964 m/s. Fastest cosmic ray proton: 5 × 10^10 GeV [!!!]; 99.999999999999999999973% the speed of light; 299,792,457.99999999999992 m/s. [0]https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/08/23/cosmic-rays-are-more-energetic-than-lhc-particles-and-this-faster-than-light-trick-reveals-them/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/08/23/cosm...
- walnutclosefarm 4y ago
  Yes, what you say is true. My argument was very poorly made.
marcosdumay 4y ago
> Even if they find something, it doesn't matter Yeah, that's a general attitude. I highly doubt that it's true, but most people seem to believe it. Just because you found the problem on a very high energy setting, it doesn't mean that the changes in theory you will get only impact very high energies. It may also impact low energy events that are naturally rare or events that have some consequence you can take out of the accelerator. All that you know is that the immediate consequence of the finding won't matter. But new findings often have more consequences than the immediate ones. If a new accelerator had a good chance of determining something unknown, it could be a worthwhile investment.

dav_Oz 4y ago

>because they are working in energy regimes that are not reachable in the ordinary physics of the universe as it exists today. This isn't accurate. Actually because of the higher energies (> 10 orders of magnitude) naturally found throughout the universe one could argue to concentrate more on collecting data of those relatively ubiquitous events in the observable universe instead of going through the route in obtaining some little fractions of that energy on earth. Current "records" [0] >Fastest Fermilab proton: 980 GeV; 99.999954% the speed of light; 299,792,320 m/s. Fastest LHC proton: 7 TeV; 99.999990% the speed of light; 299,792,455 m/s. Fastest LEP electron (fastest terrestrial accelerator particle): 105 GeV; 99.9999999988% the speed of light; 299,792,457.9964 m/s. Fastest cosmic ray proton: 5 × 10^10 GeV [!!!]; 99.999999999999999999973% the speed of light; 299,792,457.99999999999992 m/s. [0]https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/08/23/cosmic-rays-are-more-energetic-than-lhc-particles-and-this-faster-than-light-trick-reveals-them/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/08/23/cosm...

walnutclosefarm 4y ago
Yes, what you say is true. My argument was very poorly made.

marcosdumay 4y ago

> Even if they find something, it doesn't matter Yeah, that's a general attitude. I highly doubt that it's true, but most people seem to believe it. Just because you found the problem on a very high energy setting, it doesn't mean that the changes in theory you will get only impact very high energies. It may also impact low energy events that are naturally rare or events that have some consequence you can take out of the accelerator. All that you know is that the immediate consequence of the finding won't matter. But new findings often have more consequences than the immediate ones. If a new accelerator had a good chance of determining something unknown, it could be a worthwhile investment.