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Next Spring, when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) resumes its experiments, scientists will be looking for evidence of SUSY. It explains an awful lot that the current theory of particle physics does not. But there is a growing problem, provocatively expressed by Nobel Laureate George Smoot: “supersymmetry has got symmetry and it’s super but there is no experimental data to suggest it is correct.”
There is less and less focus on supersymmetry and more people are starting to branch out into other models”
Thibaut MuellerPhD student, Cambridge University
According to the simplest versions of the theory, supersymmetric particles should have been discovered at the LHC by now. One set of null results prompted Prof Chris Parkes, of the LHCb to quip: “Supersymmetry may not be dead but these latest results have certainly put it into hospital“.
But other forms of the theory are still very much in play.
Next year will be an important year for SUSY. The LHC will be smashing atoms together at almost twice the energy it did in its first run. Even those who are still strong advocates of SUSY, such as Cern’s revered professor of theoretical physics, John Ellis, agree that if LHC scientists do not find super particles in the LHC’s second run, it might be time for the hospital patient to be moved to the mortuary.
“If it is not found in LHC run two then there will be relatively few corners it could hide,” he told BBC News.
“I know that at that point the community may decide that the guys who predicted supersymmetry are dying off like flies and that young guys will be interested in different types of theories and supersymmetry may be forgotten. But I don’t think we are at that point yet.” Read more