Physics tweak solves five of the biggest problems in one go

Interesting, and (apparently) testable.

Physics tweak solves five of the biggest problems in one go

Is it just me, or does proposing a new particle to "explain" every mystery seem, well, a little convenient?

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SMASH adds a new field to explain some of those problems a little differently. This field includes two particles: the axion, a dark horse candidate for dark matter, and the inflaton, the particle behind inflation.

Why not propose one mysterion to "explain" everything?

Yes it does. That is why people were unhappy with previous efforts that postulated bunches of new particles, and like this one that only needs two. And then you want to be able to detect them, which may or may not be feasible. This article suggests that while we may not be in a position to detect them at this exact moment, we should be able to in the next ten years or so, as new accelerators and such are already in the pipeline.

Sometimes these guys get it right. How long did it take for the Higgs Boson to be verified as postulated? Fifty years?

Did the prediction cause scientists to find what they were looking for? What might they have overlooked in the meantime?

The folks are CERN are satisfied that they have proven it.

NoCoPilot wrote:

What might they have overlooked in the meantime?

I have no idea what you are asking here.

Well I'm certainly no particle physicist so I don't know either, but it is my understanding each high energy collision creates millions of particles.  Obviously nobody can look at all of them each time.

In most branches of science it is considered "bad science" to develop a theory and then run tests attempting to confirm that theory -- while discarding all contravening evidence.  Some very well known scientists have thrown away entire careers chasing theories of which they were convinced, ignoring evidence they're not.

NoCoPilot wrote:

...it is my understanding each high energy collision creates millions of particles.  Obviously nobody can look at all of them each time.

That's why we have computers.

NoCoPilot wrote:

In most branches of science it is considered "bad science" to develop a theory and then run tests attempting to confirm that theory -- while discarding all contravening evidence.

In the case of the Higgs Boson, there has never been any contravening evidence. Until the Large Hadron Collider, there was no hardware capable of creating the Higgs.

Little known fact, the Higg's Boson has a companion particle.