Supersymmetry takes an arrow to the knee

Supersymmetry isn’t quite dead yet, but the latest results out of the Large Hadron Collider are giving it some trouble. A theory that’s been around since the 1960s, supersymmetry proposes that all fermions (the fundamental particles of matter) have corresponding bosons (the carriers of basic forces). At the moment, including …

[Dalen]

"I used to be a popular science theory, just like you..."

[Captain DaFt]

"BS Meson"? Really? OK Boffins, you're just yanking our chains now.

(And I thought FOSS had the monopoly on silly names...)

[Winkypop]

Yay!

....I think.

[Anonymous Coward]

Relegated to guard duty, then...

[Poeteye]

FEARFUL SYMMETRY (from Songs Of Experiments)

-- James Ph. Kotsybar

Beyond notice, out of sight

in dimensions curled up tight,

shall only weakened gravity

suggest your supersymmetry?

Do you match, sine qua non,

boson to a fermion?

Will you ever edify

how the forces unify?

In what quanta, small or large,

will we find your mass and charge?

In what membranes do you roam?

Which dimensions call you home?

In magnetic chambers narrow,

will you tell us of time’s arrow?

Have you broken, in the past?

How long can your components last?

Quarks from gluons will divide

when we make hadrons collide:

Will this show us where you hide

or leave us still unsatisfied?

Beyond notice, out of sight

in dimensions curled up tight,

will only highest energy

reveal your supersymmetry?

[Forget It]

L H C

Symmetry axes:

L - about 45 deg

H - about the vertical

C about the horizontal

super, great ...

[MC-EST]

labor prices in different countries

just for the record, in order to warn any non-westerners:

"The cost [...] has been evaluated, taking into account realistic labor prices in different countries. The total cost is X (with a western equivalent value of Y) [where Y>X]

source: LHCb calorimeters : Technical Design Report

ISBN: 9290831693 http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/494264

http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1127343?ln=en

[John Brookes]

Re: labor prices in different countries

Ah yes, I see exactly what point you are making and why....

[JDX]

As good a place as any to ask...

Are there any good popular science books which explain modern state of play in physics unification?

I've read BHOT and Hawking's followup (Nutshell) as well as The Elegant Universe (covers string theory a bit like BHOT covers black holes, etc). Are there other, equally good books that can be recommended to a physics graduate who doesn't want to do equations?

[spider from mars]

whack-a-mole

Eh, chasing SUSY is like playing whack-a-mole. The parameter space is so vast that for every bit you rule out, the theorists can just move their models to a higher energy scale.

[The last doughnut]

Re: whack-a-mole

Don't tell me they've made up a whole branch of science just to keep themselves employed?

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

Re: whack-a-mole

So you're saying when one possibility is ruled out, they switch to working on (a likely more difficult) one that hasn't been ruled out yet, to try to get to the truth?

Who knew science worked like that?

[spider from mars]

Re: whack-a-mole

nice try, but no. There's a difference between cutting down the parameter space of a theory and testing the theory itself: there's no falsification going on; we're not approaching the "truth" in any meaningful sense.

[Ninetailed]

While supersymmetry's prospects may be looking a little bleak, it's too soon to completely rule it out. Recall the Higgs boson, which became the scientific topic of choice to point and laugh at as they ran out of places to look for it, right up until they actually found the thing this year.

[JDX]

Didn't they find it pretty much exactly where they thought it would be, and we simply had to wait for the LHC to test that?

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

Who laughed at the Higgs boson?