12
More Physics Beyond the Standard Model or
the End of Physics Now?
All the particles and all the physical effects predicted by the standard model
have now been discovered, making it an extremely successful and a truly
unique theory. So a natural question is: is that the end of physics or could
there be some new physics beyond? This kind of situation has emerged at other
times in physics. A famous one occurred at the end of nineteenth century when
Lord Kelvin is believed to have said “There is nothing new to be discovered
in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.”
That was just before the ground breaking discoveries in physics that led to the
“Quantum revolution” and a new era with many discoveries and inventions
inspired by it.
There have been other similar pronouncements by famous scientists predicting the end of physics. Consider for example the 1981 article by Stephen
Hawking in “Physics Bulletin” entitled: “Is the End in Sight for Theoretical
Physics?” His answer was “maybe” [60]. This was inspired by the rise of the
SU (5) theory which was very popular then and was way before the discovery
of neutrino mass, which disproved it as the ultimate theory. We of course know
that physics did not end then and is unlikely to end soon.
Be that as it may, in the same spirit, the answer to this question of whether
the standard model is the end of physics is a resounding “of course not,” and
there are many reasons for it, the properties of the neutrinos being one of the
main ones.
A major way progress occurs in science is when people ask why certain things
happen. This question leads people to go deeper from what they know to what
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2021
R. N. Mohapatra, The Neutrino Story: One Tiny Particle’s Grand Role in the Cosmos,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51846-2_12
87
More Physics Beyond the Standard Model or
the End of Physics Now?
All the particles and all the physical effects predicted by the standard model
have now been discovered, making it an extremely successful and a truly
unique theory. So a natural question is: is that the end of physics or could
there be some new physics beyond? This kind of situation has emerged at other
times in physics. A famous one occurred at the end of nineteenth century when
Lord Kelvin is believed to have said “There is nothing new to be discovered
in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.”
That was just before the ground breaking discoveries in physics that led to the
“Quantum revolution” and a new era with many discoveries and inventions
inspired by it.
There have been other similar pronouncements by famous scientists predicting the end of physics. Consider for example the 1981 article by Stephen
Hawking in “Physics Bulletin” entitled: “Is the End in Sight for Theoretical
Physics?” His answer was “maybe” [60]. This was inspired by the rise of the
SU (5) theory which was very popular then and was way before the discovery
of neutrino mass, which disproved it as the ultimate theory. We of course know
that physics did not end then and is unlikely to end soon.
Be that as it may, in the same spirit, the answer to this question of whether
the standard model is the end of physics is a resounding “of course not,” and
there are many reasons for it, the properties of the neutrinos being one of the
main ones.
A major way progress occurs in science is when people ask why certain things
happen. This question leads people to go deeper from what they know to what
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2021
R. N. Mohapatra, The Neutrino Story: One Tiny Particle’s Grand Role in the Cosmos,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51846-2_12
87