Sabine Hossenfelder, Gavin Salam, and Bjørn Ekeberg conclude their discussion on particle physics and whether or not scientists should continue pursuing it.

Is there a future for particle exploration?

Watch the full debate at https://iai.tv/video/physicsparticle...

or see Part 1 here:    • Is it particle physics or a fairytale...  

At the heart of physics is the search for ultimate particles. The Standard Model sets out the current framework. But many argue that all is not well in the particle physics zoo. A central prediction was the existence of supersymmetry particles, but none have been found. At the same time, huge experiments have failed to find the particles that account for dark matter and dark energy, which make up 95% of the universe. Moreover, it is not even clear what a particle is, since some have no dimension and others no mass. Yet physics is rife with proposals for new 'particles'.

While there are positive spinoffs from the technology created to carry out particle experiments, has the theory itself run out of road? Would we be better describing reality as the product of quantum fields, information, or mathematics, rather than particles? Or does the Standard Model not actually describe the ultimate nature of reality at all, and do its particles just represent a useful fiction?

#physics #particles #quantumphysics

Sabine Hossenfelder is a theoretical physicist, author, musician, and science communicator who researches quantum gravity. Gavin Salam is an Oxfordbased theoretical physicist celebrated for his groundbreaking work in quantum chromodynamics, the theory describing the strong nuclear force. He was formerly a Senior Research Scientist at CERN and the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Bjørn Ekeberg is a philosopher of science whose main interests lie in the limits of scientific knowledge. He argues that our current understanding of the universe, the Big Bang, and nearly all of Big Bang cosmology is based on faith rather than experimental evidence.


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00:00 Introduction
00:24 We have never found dark matter
01:35 Why we're building a collider
03:45 Atomism is a narrative
06:03 Big colliders are too much money
10:20 Why particle physicists are important
13:19 The problem is money and people
17:57 The mystery of particles
19:29 Will there be big shifts in physics research?


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