High-Energy Physics - Signal Processing Systems - page 137

along with its partner experiment, ATLAS. Because CMS and ATLAS share the
same experimental goals, many of the technical characteristics we will describe
regarding CMS are also applicable to ATLAS. A few of the most important theories
being tested at these experiments are described in brief here.
The Higgs Boson
The Standard Model of particle physics is the closest scientists have come to a
“holy grail” of science: the creation of a Grand Unified Theory that describes all
of the particles and forces in the Universe using a single set of consistent rules.
The Standard Model has been in development since the 1960s, and is currently an
accepted theory that is taught to students of physics. The Standard Model accounts
for all fundamental forces, except for the gravitational force. Moreover, 23 of the
24 fundamental particles predicted by the Standard Model have been observed by
scientists. The only particle that has been predicted, but not yet observed, is the
Higgs Boson. The Higgs Boson is a very significant particle in the Standard Model,
as it is the sole particle responsible for giving mass to matter, through a phenomenon
known as the Higgs Field. Previous searches for the Higgs at lower energy levels
have not been successful, but scientists believe that the TeV-scale energy at the LHC
is high enough that they should be able to find the Higgs if it exists [ 28 ] . Evidence
of the Higgs would solidify the Standard Model. Perhaps more interestingly, if
scientists fail to find any evidence of the Higgs, it would suggest a significant flaw
in the long-accepted Standard Model and stimulate scientists to explore alternate
theories.
Supersymmetry
Supersymmetry (SuSy) represents one of the most actively-studied potential exten-
sions to the Standard Model [ 9 ] . According to SuSy theories, every known particle
also has a “superpartner”—that is, a corresponding particle with complementary
properties, but a much larger mass. The existence of superpartners could provide
solutions to several major unsolved problems in physics. For example, superpartners
could be the components of dark matter and solve the mystery of why Universe
appears to have significantly more matter in it than scientists have observed. SuSy
allows physicists to synthesize the strong nuclear force and electro-weak force into
a single unified force. SuSy is also a component of several contentious unified
theories, such as String Theory. There is a possibility that the high-energy collisions
at the CMS experiment will generate evidence of the existence of superpartners
lending credence to these theories.
Extra Dimensions
Some theorists have argued that some of the apparent unanswered problems in
physics, such as dark matter [ 46 ] , can be resolved through the existence of additional
dimensions beyond the four space-time dimensions that we perceive. The existence