Beyond the Standard Model
Unanswered Questions
The Standard Model
answers many of the questions of the structure of and stability
of matter with its six types of quarks, six of leptons,
and the four force types.
But the Standard Model leaves many other questions unanswered:
- Why are there three types of quarks and leptons of each charge?
- Is there some pattern to their masses,
and why does matter have mass?
- Why is there so much more matter than antimatter in the universe?
- Are there more types of particles and forces to be discovered at
yet higher energy accelerators?
- Are the quarks and leptons really fundamental or do they,
too, have substructure?
- How can the gravitational interactions be included?
- What is the invisible, dark matter, that accounts for so much of
the universe that we cannot see?
Questions such as these drive particle physicists to build and operate
new accelerators, so that higher-energy collisions can provide clues to
their answers.
