Standard Model

Standard Model

universe bulk volume brane dimension
For decades, theorists have been cooking up "theories of everything" to explain our Universe. Are all of them completely off-track?
An Ishihara color blindness test with colored dots, showing letters “u” and “d” in black, and a magnified section highlighting the dot pattern—inviting viewers to observe proton decay through subtle visual cues.
"Color" with respect to the strong force is just an analogy. Here's how to understand it without colors, group theory, or any advanced math.
We have two descriptions of the Universe that work perfectly well: general relativity and quantum physics. Too bad they don't work together.
No matter what physical system we consider, nature always obeys the same fundamental laws. Must it be this way, and if so, why?
color charge color anticolor
When what we predict and what we measure don't add up, that's a sign there's something new to learn. Could it be a new fundamental force?
Standard Model particles symmetry
The combination of charge conjugation, parity, and time-reversal symmetry is known as CPT. And it must never be broken. Ever.
particle physics destroy universe
Smashing things together at unprecedented energies sounds dangerous. But it's nothing the Universe hasn't already seen, and survived.
A view of a star-filled night sky with numerous bright stars and distant galaxies, including Hubble-dark galaxy formations, scattered across a dark background.
The discovery of CDG-2, a galaxy that's more than 99.9% dark matter, could reveal a new population of ultra-faint galaxies. But is it real?
The fundamental building blocks of reality are indivisible: quanta that cannot be split or divided. Our understanding remains incomplete.
A large group of people stands together inside a spacious, industrial facility—likely the LHC—surrounded by tall machinery, pipes, and metal structures, celebrating the best 2025 discovery in particle physics.
Some vital, key ingredients must be in place for the Universe to make more matter than antimatter. The LHC took us one step closer in 2025.
An Ishihara color blindness test with colored dots, showing letters “u” and “d” in black, and a magnified section highlighting the dot pattern—inviting viewers to observe proton decay through subtle visual cues.
As the lightest baryon in the Universe, the proton is thought by many to be eternally stable. But if it isn't, can we observe it decaying?
millennium simulation cosmic web slice
We have a picture of how and when it will all come to an end. These three big ideas could still profoundly change how our cosmos evolves.
DUNE neutrino detectors
Nearly 100 years after being theorized, the strange behavior of the neutrino still mystifies us. They could be even stranger than we know.
Two identical, intricate, circular geometric patterns with symmetrical, multicolored lines and shapes are displayed side by side on a white background—each subtly reflecting the argument against theory of everything’s promise of perfect symmetry.
The Holy Grail of physics is a Theory of Everything: where a single equation describes the whole Universe. But maybe there simply isn't one?
Two diagrams: the left shows a complex, circular, multicolored network; the right displays a theoretical physics diagram with labeled axes and colored particle symbols, capturing the intricate nature of physics hard concepts.
When you don't have enough clues to bring your detective story to a close, you should expect that your educated guesses will all be wrong.
A person inspects a large, cylindrical section of a Higgs factory tunnel lined with metal pipes, cables, and equipment—a crucial site for particle physics research.
A next-generation collider is required for studying particle physics at the frontiers. Here's the fastest, cheapest way to get it done.
Abstract digital artwork featuring concentric blue circles, lines, and green geometric shapes over a dark blue and black textured background, evoking a sense of vibe physics within its captivating composition.
The conversation you're having with an LLM about groundbreaking new ideas in theoretical physics is completely meritless. Here's why.
bounce ball
Whether you run the clock forward or backward, most of us expect the laws of physics to be the same. A 2012 experiment showed otherwise.
Two glowing spheres, one red and one green, face each other in space with a wavy line of light—like a particle physics collision—connecting them against a speckled dark background reminiscent of the last collider’s discoveries.
Will we build a successor collider to the LHC? Someday, we'll reach the true limit of what experiments can probe. But that won't be the end.
Infographic illustrating three steps to measure the Hubble Constant, showing Cepheid variable stars, supernovae, and galaxies at increasing distances with redshifted light—highlighting how these methods reveal that the hubble tension is real.
Is the Universe's expansion rate 67 km/s/Mpc, 73 km/s/Mpc, or somewhere in between? The Hubble tension is real and not so easy to resolve.
Close-up of a large, metallic, circular structure with concentric rings and radial lines, illuminated by natural light from one side—evoking experiments that revealed the neutrino mass is smaller than once believed.
The long-elusive neutrino was shown to have a bizarre property no one expected: mass. New, tightest-ever limits have profound implications.
symmetry
The laws of physics obey certain symmetries and defy others. It's theoretically tempting to add new ones, but reality doesn't agree.
Illustration of a large particle accelerator facility underground, with scientists working and a city landscape above ground.
The laws of nature are almost perfectly symmetric between matter and antimatter, and yet our Universe is made ~100% of matter only. But why?
A repeating pattern of wireframe 3D geometric shapes intersected by diagonal yellow lines on a black background, evoking a physics break down of forms at the Planck scale.
There are limits to where physics makes meaningful predictions: beyond the Planck length, time, or energy. Here's why we can't go further.
particle physics destroy universe
Empty space itself, the quantum vacuum, could be in either a true, stable state or a false, unstable state. Our fate depends on the answer.
Diagram of the universe's expansion with grid patterns and cosmic elements, framed by "Consensus or Crisis?" in white text on black background. This visual encapsulates how cosmology changed from 2000 to 2025, highlighting key theories and discoveries.
25 years ago, our concordance picture of cosmology, also known as ΛCDM, came into focus. 25 years later, are we about to break that model?
A cartoon of three cosmic phenomena (CMB, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations, Supernovae) pulling on a triangle. Text below reads: "Something has to give...
DESI, by mapping galaxies, has claimed they see evidence for dark energy evolving by getting weaker. But that's only one interpretation.
round Earth messenger
All scientific theories are limited in scope, power, and application, being mere approximations of reality. That's why consensus is vital.
states of matter
Under extreme conditions, matter takes on properties that lead to remarkable, novel possibilities. Topological superconductors included.
anitmatter annihilation
From the tiniest subatomic scales to the grandest cosmic structures of all, everything that exists depends on two things: charge and mass.