Particle Physics – It Matters a Forward Look at UK Research Into the Building Blocks of the Universe and Its Impact on Society

Particle physics – it matters A forward look at UK research into the building blocks of the Universe and its impact on society In partnership with CONTENTS 3 Foreword 4 Advancing human progress through basic knowledge 5 Why does it matter? 6 New frontiers in basic science 6 The experiments 8 How particle physics benefi ts society 8 Particle physics and healthcare 10 Communications 10 Manufacturing and business 11 Global challenges 12 Helping industry 13 Underpinning the knowledge-based economy 14 Particle physics in the UK 15 Further information 2 Foreword Particle physics – it matters Foreword This report summarises the science questions confronting particle-physics research in the next 20 years, what advances in technology are being pursued and the cross-disciplinary benefi ts to be accrued. It is predominantly an interest in curiosity-driven science, of which particle physics is a major part, that often attracts students to study physics and which drives the technological innovation; neither can proceed in isolation. WHAT IS PARTICLE PHYSICS? Particle physics seeks to understand the evolution of the Universe in the fi rst fraction of a second after its birth in the Big Bang in terms of a small number of fundamental particles and forces. The processes involved ultimately resulted in the creation of atoms and the complex molecules that led to our existence. The intellectual curiosity embodied in particle physics is also at the foundation of philosophy, art and other scientifi c disciplines which, together, have shaped the modern world. Without such innate curiosity, the modern world would not exist. The study of particle physics challenges our preconceptions, inspires and seeks to move human knowledge forward at a basic level – wherever that may lead. UK LEADERSHIP Many of the foundations, on which our understanding has been built, were fi rst laid down in the UK. Experiments in the early 20th century, at the Universities of Cambridge, Manchester and Bristol, led to the discovery of the particles of which atoms are composed – the electron, the atomic nucleus and the neutron, as well as more exotic entities called mesons. On the theoretical side, it was the British physicist Paul Dirac, while at Cambridge, who fi rst postulated the existence of antimatter. It continued a UK lineage, going back to James Clerk Maxwell, Michael Faraday and Isaac Newton, that has shaped much of modern science. Today, the UK continues to play a world-leading role in basic research, principally through experiments at Europe’s main particle physics laboratory, CERN; two of the four experiments of the ground-breaking Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project are led by physicists at UK universities, and the LHC accelerator project continues to be led by UK physicist, Lyn Evans. THE FUTURE Despite prodigious advances in of large-scale, global, collaborative our knowledge, there remain many research. The novel technologies that unanswered questions – for example: emerge, developed in collaboration what is mass and why is there is so with industry, are vital to other much more matter than antimatter? fi elds, particularly the biomedical Such questions fascinate people and materials sciences, and have of all ages and are a key driver in applications in medicine, sustainable- attracting students to study physics energy development and security. in UK universities (p14). The diverse The potential scientifi c discoveries technological, computational and themselves could lead to technological analytical training that particle physics benefi ts whose signifi cance, as history research offers – in an international has shown, may not be immediately setting – is much sought-after by apparent. The discovery, in future employers, particularly in the high value- particle-physics experiments, of new added sectors of industrial research, particles that could mediate processes fi nance and computing. leading to cheap, safe energy, would The challenging nature of the revolutionise the world – as the questions posed by particle-physics discovery of the electron did at the end research requires paradigm shifts in the of the 19th century. technical development of accelerators, sensors, microelectronics, data- Dr Robert Kirby-Harris acquisition methods, computing and Chief Executive analysis techniques – all in the context The Institute of Physics 3 Introduction Advancing human progress through basic knowledge Research into the forces and building blocks of matter is a key area of modern physics One of the unique attributes of the strong and weak forces which The Standard Model of particles and forces is humans is their innate curiosity and hold nuclei together, and gravity which one of the cornerstones of modern physics ability to observe the world and is much weaker on the atomic scale MATTER PARTICLES create a consistent description – a and mediates the dynamics of the LEPTONS model – of how reality works. Over whole Universe. Electron neutrino Muon neutrino Tau neutrino the past centuries, great thinkers Much of the underlying knowledge and experimenters have and understanding have been achieved built up an elegant and through large-scale, but ultra-precise Electron Muon Tau profound description experiments using machines to QUARKS of Nature in terms of accelerate and collide particles at very matter as discrete high energies. These projects represent Up Charm Top particles interacting via some of the most sophisticated and fundamental forces. We challenging technological endeavours now know that the matter ever carried out – and so, not Down Strange Bottom around us (including surprisingly, have generated benefi ts FORCE PARTICLES ourselves) consists of atoms, for humanity stretching far beyond their which in turn are made of more scientifi c goals. fundamental particles. This knowledge, The Standard Model tested in photon graviton? Electromagnetism Gravity and the technological innovation this way has been hugely successful, required to obtain it, has underpinned but it is far from being a complete the huge leaps in our quality of life description of Nature. Studies looking over the past 100 years. The desire out into space, far back to the early WZgluon Weak force Weak force Strong force for knowledge is a profound human Universe, infer that the matter particles instinct, and knowledge of the Universe and forces must have been generated, at the most basic level is one via a series of processes, from a prerequisite for our survival in it. ‘unifi ed’ primordial state existing just after the Big Bang. Unravelling the UNDERSTANDING NATURE more basic physics of these events Higgs ? To build up the picture of the building – which ultimately explain why the The size is a only a rough indication of mass; the photon, gluon and blocks of Nature requires two kinds of Universe looks the way it does now – graviton are massless. The Higgs and graviton are yet to be discovered effort: developing a general description has become the central question in of particles and how they interact basic physics. “The quest for fundamental – quantum theory; and designing Current and planned future particle knowledge as embodied experiments to test predictions of the experiments are exploring these by particle physics is the resulting particle model. The current processes, either by mimicking the hallmark of a civilised nation. ‘Standard Model of Particle Physics’ (left) high-energy conditions that existed at Diffi cult questions in basic divides matter particles into two types: the beginning of time, or by searching six quarks, of which two make up the for unusual particle behaviour at lower science require innovative protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei; energies that is a signature of the more technical solutions and and six leptons including the electron. basic physics. a wide range of science Most of the other, more exotic quarks disciplines have benefi ted and leptons exist only fl eetingly in from the technological high-energy interactions; however, they played a pivotal role in shaping advances generated by the Universe’s evolution. Matter studies in particle physics.” interacts via four fundamental forces: electromagnetism which binds the Sir Paul Nurse: 2001 Nobel Laureate in constituents of atoms and molecules, Physiology or Medicine 4 Particle physics – it matters Why does it matter? Research in curiosity-driven science is an important driver for technological innovation and economic success. THE UK ANDANDI INTERNATIONALNTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER The UK plays a pivotal role in basic Modern particle physics has its origins in discoveries and theoretical developments research both theoretically and that shaped the modern world and now underpin much of modern science. Many experimentally. Particle physics has advances in chemistry, molecular biology, genetics and materials science were always engendered multinational predicated on the discovery of the electron and quantum theory, and by analytical collaborations, and our researchers probes such as X-rays and nuclear-based techniques. Addressing questions at the are involved in running major particle microscopic scale and beyond has always required innovation. Particle-physics physics experiments – in Europe, the experiments are extremely demanding in terms of equipment design, and they US and Japan. Realising the gains to generate novel technical approaches which ultimately benefi t society: be made, emerging economies such as y accelerators for medical diagnosis, therapies, food-treatment, micro-electronics China

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