Princeton Univ., Dept. of Physics, Hamilton Colloquium Series
Beyond the Higgs Boson: Further questions and expectations for the Large Hadron Collider
The biggest recent news from particle physics is the discovery at the CERN Large Hadron Collider of a new particle with many properties of the long-sought Higgs Boson. The Higgs Boson had been predicted by the unified theory of weak and electromagnetic interactions. This discovery thus seems to fill a recognized gap in our understanding. But there are more mysteries about the weak interactions and physics at the 100 GeV - 1 TeV mass scale. About these, the LHC has also given us much information, but all of it negative, exclusions of previously possible solutions.
In this lecture I will give my best understanding of where we are in the search for new particles and forces related to the weak interactions. I will review the questions we are asking about physics in the hundred GeV region. I will discuss the power and also the difficulties of LHC measurements. There are many alternatives for the route forward. I will discuss some of these and their implications for the future program of physics at high-energy colliders.