The Way Ahead for Supersymmetry

SUSY 2013 wrapped up with plenary talks by leading figures in theoretical physics: John Ellis, the current Clerk Maxwell Professor of Theoretical Physics at King's College London and Nima Arkani-Hamed from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

Ellis, in his talk titled "Outlook for Supersymmetry", outlined the possibilities that lay beyond the LHC discovery of the Higgs boson. His research interests include the Higgs boson, its possible connections with matter-antimatter asymmetry and the generation of matter in the universe along with supersymmetry, and he has played a vital role at CERN and as the theory division leader there.

Ellis said that finding the Higgs boson (with a smaller than expected mass), but not finding evidence of other light superparticles was "The LHC paradox", but stressed that the way forward would be looking for supersymmetry. He said that studying the Higgs boson in greater detail and rethinking the LHC upgrades keeping the Higgs particle in mind will be important.

Talking about his vision for the future, Ellis touched upon the TLEP study, which will allow physicists to study the Higgs boson and physics at the electroweak scale. TLEP is a high luminosity circular collider that will basically function as a "Higgs factory."

Ellis finished his talk by reminding the audience that the search for the Higgs boson took 48 years and search for supersymmetry is been ongoing for just about 40 years, and so the scientific community needs to be patient and continue the search.

This story is part of the Focus Feature on SUSY 2013. Go to the Focus Feature webpage for the complete coverage.