This will keep the physicists occupied for a while.

This will keep the physicists occupied for a while.

Originally shared by Ethan Siegel

“During the last decade, when neutrino masses were constrained for the first time (via neutrino oscillations), it surprised many that they were found to be very low in mass, but to have definitively non-zero masses. Why is that? The general way of explaining this — the see-saw mechanism — typically involves additional, very heavy particles (like, maybe a billion or a trillion times more massive than the Standard Model particles) that are extensions to the Standard Model; without a new particle, their tiny, tiny masses (just a billionth of an electron’s mass) are completely unexplained. Whether see-saw-type particles exist or there’s some other explanation, these massive neutrinos are almost definitely, in some way, indicative of new physics beyond the Standard Model.”

When you think about the Standard Model of particle physics, you very likely think about all the matter, energy, particles, antiparticles, forces and interactions of the Universe. And you might legitimately worry that this is all there is. With the LHC confirming that there’s no low-scale supersymmetry or collider-accessible extra dimensions, and that all the decays and branching ratios align with the Standard Model’s predictions, that worry seems well-founded. Never fear; we know there’s more! The Standard Model may be wonderful for what it does predict, but we know with absolute certainty that it can’t be everything. From dark matter to massive neutrinos, from the strong CP problem to baryogenesis and more, there are five very strong pieces of independent evidence that show there’s more to the Universe than what we presently can explain.

Come see if you can identify all five independent lines of evidence for new particles and interactions beyond the Standard Model!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2016/11/04/five-independent-signs-of-new-physics-in-the-universe/