Related papers: The Emperor's Last Clothes?
Cosmology and particle physics have long been dominated by theoretical paradigms: Einstein's general theory of relativity in cosmology and the Standard Model of particle physics. The time may have come for paradigm shifts. Does cosmological…
Particle physics has evolved a coherent model that characterizes forces and particles at the most elementary level. This Standard Model, built from many theoretical and experimental studies, is in excellent accord with almost all current…
Well over a century after the discovery of the electron, we are still faced with serious conceptual issues regarding precisely what an electron is. Since the development of particle physics and the Standard Model, we have accumulated a…
The present discussion concerning certain fundamental physical theories (such as string theory and multiverse cosmology) has reopened the demarcation problem between science and non-science. While parts of the physics community see the…
At the present time, string theory (and its generalizations) remain relatively abstruse subjects to the particle phenomenologist and experimentalist. Yet, striking developments of the last two years offer hope that a fundamental…
The reader surely knows what particles physics is about: finding building blocks of nature that appear elementary at a given time and study their interactions - so why in the world this essay? The problem is how to arrive at a fundamental…
From the humble beginnings of particle physics to groundbreaking discoveries, the journey of particle physics has revolutionized our understanding of the universe. The progression of particle physics, begin from the discovery of new…
The Standard Model is an up-to-date theory that best summarizes current knowledge in particle physics. Although some problems still remain open, it represents the leading model which all physicists refer to. One of the pillars which…
I discuss some central issues in particle physics which are potentially relevant to cosmology. I first briefly review the present (glorious) experimental status of the Standard Model, emphasizing that it provides a firm foundation both for…
Our present understanding of elementary particle interactions is the synergic result of developments of theoretical ideas and of experimental advances that lead to the theory known as the Standard Model of particle physics. Despite the…
I briefly review the conceptual developments that led to the Standard Model and discuss some of its remarkable qualitative features. On the way, I draw attention to several puzzling aspects that are beyond the reach of our present…
In the past three years our views on how the standard model of particle physics could be embedded into string theory have dramatically changed. The heterotic string is no longer the only possibility for such an embedding and other…
If the results of the first LHC run are not betraying us, many decades of particle physics are culminating in a complete and consistent theory for all non-gravitational physics: the Standard Model. But despite this monumental achievement…
String theory is the leading candidate for a unified theory of the standard model and gravity. In the last few years theorists have realized that there is a unique structure underlying string theory. In this unification a prominent role is…
The possibility of fundamental theories with very many ground states, each with different physical parameters, changes the way that we approach the major questions of particle physics. Most importantly, it raises the possibility that these…
The formalism of classical particle dynamics is reinvestigated according to the basic requirement of causal consistency, and a new equation of particle dynamics, which is more general and more in line with classical mechanics experiments…
There are many theories that have resided these last fifty years within the hazy mist we have been calling the Standard Model (SM) of elementary particles. An attempt is made here to construct a coherent description of the SM today, because…
The idea that particles are the basic constituents of all matter dates back to ancient times and formed the basis of physical thought well into modern times. The debate about whether light was a wave or a stream of particles also lasted…
The Standard Model of Particle Physics has proven to be tremendously successful as the fundamental theory that describes the elementary particles that compose our Universe, as well as the interactions among them. Despite the countless…
I consider selected (most important according to my own choice) unsolved problems in particle theory, both those related to extensions of the Standard Model (neutrino oscillations, which probably do not fit the usual three-generation…