On the right, the gauge bosons, which mediate the three fundamental quantum forces of our Universe, are illustrated. There is only one photon to mediate the electromagnetic force, there are three bosons mediating the weak force, and eight mediating the strong force. This suggests that the Standard Model is a combination of three groups: U(1), SU(2), and SU(3). (Credit: Daniel Domingues/CERN)

Can the new-and-improved Large Hadron Collider save particle physics?

The Standard Model may or may not be in trouble, but particle physics definitely needs saving. Here’s what the new LHC can do.

Everyone in the physics community agrees: particle physics is in trouble. Yet, depending on whom you ask, you’re likely to hear that the root of the trouble originates in a few very different places.

1. Particle physics is in trouble because there are now so many cracks in the Standard Model that it might well be time to throw out our most cherished assumptions and start over.
2. Particle physics is in trouble because theorists have led us astray for generations, and we’ve continued to barrel down the same path.
3. Particle physics is in trouble because the Large Hadron Collider has only found the expected Higgs Boson while failing to find anything else new, and still particle physicists want a newer and bigger accelerator.

But the truth of the matter isn’t any of these; these are all convenient but incomplete narratives that deliberately leave out the most important aspects of what’s going on. The truth is that there’s much more to learn beyond the already-explored frontiers, and the value of that knowledge is not knowable…