At the eve of LHC

Linear hadron collider (LHC) at CERN is expected to start soon to produce data about particle physics at energies much higher than reached hitherto. The colliding protons would have cm energy of 7 TeV per particle. Also collisions of lead nuclei with energy of 574 TeV per nucleus will be studied. The startup of LHC is a remarkable event and there has been a lot of fuss about it during last weeks in blogs. The reader can get some idea about the scale of the experimental apparatus by looking at the pictures at Tommaso's page. LHC makes me optimistic about the ultimate fate of humankind: the ability of humankind to co-operate to create something like looks like a miracle.

LHC is often seen as a kind of savior of the particle physics. As the results from LHC finally start to flow all questions will be answered, a new wave of creativity will propagate through the theoretical physics community, and the deep principles behind M-theory will be finally understood. From TGD perspective these expectations look somewhat over-optimistic, reflecting what I see as a distortion of perspective. This distortion is probably due to the basic belief that everything -including of course also consciousness- reduces to the dance of elementary particles which in turn reduces to the wiggling of the tiny Planck scale strings.

The basic distinction between TGD and more standard theories is indeed the replacement of the Planck length scale reductionism with a fractal view about Universe (many-sheeted space-time, p-adic length scale hierarchy and dark matter hierarchy corresponding to a hierarchy of Planck constants). As a consequence, TGD predicts a lot of new particle physics in all length scales instead of some exotic effects in LHC. There indeed exists a rich spectrum of anomalies giving support for this physics and the book p-Adic Length Scale Hypothesis and Dark Matter Hierarchy is about these predictions. Some of these anomalies (leptopion anomaly) date back to seventies and could have been a treasure trove of new ideas for young and imaginative theoreticians. Sadly, the colleagues who have decided that low energy physics (that is physics below string length scale) reduces to some GUT cannot but forget these findings.

The new physics derives from several sources: TGD based explanation of elementary particle quantum numbers differing in several aspects from the picture provided by standard model and its standard generalizations, the fractal view about particle massivation based on p-adic thermodynamics and p-adic length scale hypothesis, and the identification of dark matter in terms of a hierarchy of Planck constants. In the following I discuss these predictions. A warning is in order here: "predicts" is too strong expression but I will use it as a shorthand for a longer expressions involving a lot of "assuming that"'s.

The new physics related to p-adic thermodynamics and p-adic length scale hypothesis

The basic prediction of a proto type GUT is a desert beginning at intermediate boson mass scale and continuing up to the unification scale about 10^-4 Planck masses. In TGD framework this brave hypothesis looks like an over-simplification - to put it mildly;-). What interests me is not this hypothesis which is in sharp contrast with all wisdom that human kind has gained after Newton's times but the phychology behind it. This desire to have reached the final knowledge tells something very deep about conciousness itself.

1. p-adic thermodynamics combined with p-adic length scale hypothesis replaces Higgs mechanism as a mechanism of particle massivation. The geometric realization of zero energy in terms of a hierarchy of diamonds identified as intersections of future and past directed lightcones gives a good justification for the latter. This makes possible scaled up variants of particles with masses coming as half octaves of the basic mass. There are surprisingly many pieces of evidence for this prediction. These scaled up versions of quarks are essential for TGD based mass formula for the light hadrons. The evidence for two Ω_b:s with 100 MeV mass difference could be a second example about this phenomenon and TGD explains the mass difference within experimental uncertainties. No one of course takes seriously TGD based explanation and there is a hot debate going on between CDF and D0 collaborations about this (see Tommaso's posting).

2. Scaled up copies of entire hadron physics are possible (see this). This means that the space-time sheet of gluons, which corresponds to Mersenne prime M₁₀₇ for ordinary hadron physics can be replaced with that corresponding to some other Mersenne prime, for instance M₈₉. For this particular scaled up copy of hadron physics QCD Lambda is scaled up by a factor 512. p-Adically scaled up variants of quarks would topologically condense at the gluonic space-time sheet characterized by M₈₉. There are good reasons to expect that this space-time sheet is dark (large hbar would reduce the value of color coupling strength and perturbation theory would work in the resulting anyonlike phase, see this). One can imagine also hadron physics in electron length scale characterized by M₁₂₇ and the proposal is that this hadron physics is highly relevant for nuclear physics (see this).

3. Higgs like particles are possible but they can give only a small additional contribution to particle masses. The experimental determinations seem to converge to two different Higgs masses which forces to ask whether Higgs might exist in two different p-adic mass scales depending on the type of reaction in which it is detected. I have briefly discussed this possibility here and in this posting with predictions for the masses of Higgs.

TGD based explanation of standard model quantum numbers

Consider next the new physics relates to TGD based explanation of standard model quantum numbers (for a summary see this). The geometry of H=M⁴× CP₂ allows a geometrization of standard model quantum numbers and family replication phenomenon has a topological explanation.

1. The conserved quark and lepton numbers correspond to different chiralities for H-spinors so that proton is automatically stable (apart from a possible decay to lighter scaled down variants of hadrons with decay signatures totally different from those for GUT proton decays).

2. Color corresponds to CP₂ partial waves in TGD framework. Super-conformal invariance is essential for getting correct correlation between electroweak and color quantum numbers (see this). If this is the case also in reality, paper basket will become the proper place for most of the phenomenology done during the 35 years in GUTs and string models after the emergence of the first GUT around 1974. Colored excitations of leptons and quarks are possible. Lepto-hadron hypothesis relates to this and the evidence for colored excitations of electrons, muons, and tau lepton have been accumulating (see this). The first evidence dates back to seventies and last evidence I have discussed quite recently (see this).

3. The third new element is the topological explanation of family replication phenomenon in terms of the topology of wormhole throat serving as carrier of elementary particle numbers. Fermions correspond to single wormhole throat (CP₂ type vacuum extremal topologically condensed to space-time sheet with Minkowki signature of the induced metric). Gauge bosons correspond to pairs of wormhole throats assignable to wormhole contacts connecting two space-time sheets. There is good argument explaining why only the three lowest genera (sphere,torus, and sphere with two handles) correspond to light fermions (see this).

Consider now the basic predictions at LHC.

1. The topological explanation of family replication phenomenon implies dynamical SU(3) symmetry with fermionic triplets identified as three genera e,μ,τ and corresponding neutrinos and three generations of U and D type quarks. In the bosonic sector one obtains wormhole contacts in octet and singlet representations of this SU(3). The known gauge bosons correspond to singlet and octets would be waiting for their discovery. Characteristic flavor violations are predicted. There are some indications for the the existence of some members of octet counterparts of Z⁰ (see Tommaso's posting, my own posting, and this).

2. Colored excitations of ordinary quarks and are in principle possible and one cannot exclude their presence at even lower energies. One can imagine even scaled up variants of ordinary leptons and their colored excitations. It would require a collective effort to say something more concrete about the masses of these higher color excitations.

   Space-time supersymmetry in TGD framework

   The TGD based views about super-conformal symmetry and space-time supersymmetry are in many aspects different from those of string models and standard SUSYs. Majorana spinors are replaced by Weyl spinors and the oscillator operators assignable to the induced spinor fields generate a super symmetry algebra, which can be infinite-dimensional. This algebra is also associated with super-conformal algebras of quantum TGD and it remains to be seen what the implications are. The standard formalism of SUSY theories fails in TGD context but during last weeks I have been working with a formalism applying in this kind of situation and proposed also a bilocal QFT type description of gravitational interactions

   Positive energy chiral super-fields are Taylor series analytic in theta parameters. Negative energy chiral super fields are obtained by replacing thetas with derivatives with respect to thetas and by applying this operator to the product of all thetas. Vector super fields are normal ordered polynomials of derivatives of thetas and thetas operators slashed between positive and negative energy super-fields. They represent a very straighforward generalization of gauge potentials and minimal substitution fixes the interactions with chiral super fields. The corresponding kinetic term emerges via chiral loops. The model predicts that only the monomials of theta parameters with degree d=2 (spins J=0,1/2,1) behave as ordinary particles whereas higher monomials define forces which correspond to confining potentials below Compton length and contact interactions in longer length scales (see this and this).

   The simplest super-symmetry breaking scenario assumes same mass formulas for the members of the super-multiplet. p-Adic length scales can how differ so that an elegant mechanism of super-symmetry breaking results (see this). The masses of super-partners of known particles are obtained by scaling them with some power k of 2^1/2: unfortunately the possible values of k cannot be predicted yet. This is however a strong and easily testable prediction because of the exponential sensitivity to k. The early evidence for supersymmetry about which Tommaso told in his posting allows fix the masses of sHiggs,selectron, and superpartner of Z⁰ (see this and this).

Dark matter and hierarchy of Planck constants

The ultra-reductionistic belief is that any progress in the understanding of fundamental interactions requires increasingly higher energies and that galaxy sized accelerators are needed to to reach the physics at unification energies.

The TGD inspired generalization of quantum theory by introducing an infinite hierarchy of Planck constants and the interpretation of dark matter as a hierarchy of phases with non-standard values of Planck constant changes this view dramatically. The geometrical realization is in terms of the book like structure of the generalized 8-D imbedding space with pages characterized partially by the values of Planck constant. Particles at different pages of the book are dark relative to each other in the sense of having no local interactions. Interactions via classical fields and exchange of gauge bosons leaking between different pages and thus suffering phase transition changing Planck constant are possible. Hence dark matter would not be so dark as usually thought. Zoomed up variants of ordinary particles with arbitrary long (or short) Compton lengths but same mass are possible. The phases with a large value of Planck constant correspond to long length scales and the most important applications are in biology and even in astrophysics.

1. LHC does not seem to the best place to search for dark matter and dark energy unless phases with Planck constant smaller than its standard value are also present. In TGD framework dark energy would correspond to magnetic flux tubes with gigantic values of Planck constant and Compton lengths of ordinary particles would be cosmological so that LHC would be the last place to search for dark energy.

2. It might be however possible to study the phase transition from dark to ordinary matter at LHC if confined valence quarks in ordinary hadrons are in a phase with large Planck constant. This would reduce the value of color coupling strength proportional 1/hbar and guarantee that perturbation theory works for the resulting anyonlike phases (see this). The phase transition to a non-confining phase might explain the findings of RHIC summarized using the notion of color glass (see this). This liquid like phase would be quantum critical phase intermediate between confined phase with large have and quark gluon plasma with standard value of hbar. The collisions of lead nuclei at LHC are expected to provide further information in this respect.

3. There is also the hope that LHC might help to understand the weakness of gravity. Some variants of string model predict large extra dimensions and even production of mini black holes at LHC. TGD does not support these hopes. The new physics implied by the gigantic values of gravitational Planck constant predict becomes manifest in astrophysical length scales. Allais effect is one possible manifestation of this new gravitational physics (see this). Quite recent measurements from LIGO have reached the resolution which allows to detect the gravitational flux from some objects and the findings suggests that the detected graviton flux is below the predicted value. The possible failure to detect gravitons might be due to the fact that gravitons arrive as large hbar gravitons having very larges energies and decay to bunches of ordinary gravitons interpreted as external perturbations.

What after LHC?

TGD replaces reductionism with fractality. This challenges the usual belief that the progress in particle physics requires higher collision energies and larger accelerators. There are two kind of fractalities: p-adic fractality meaning a hierarchy of mass and corresponding length scales and fractality associated with hierarchy of Planck constants meaning a hierarchy of length scales with a fixed mass scale.

1. The p-adically scaled up versions of hadron physics and lepto-hadron physics with both large and low mass scales are possible in TGD Universe. This might make it possible to gain information about QCD type physics at ultrahigh energies by studying scaled down counterparts of the ordinary hadron physics at low energies. Gigantic accelerators would not be needed anymore.

2. Large hbar means small dissipation and large hbar table top particle accelerators utilizing strong electric fields might be possible some day. The recent discovery of Fermi telescope about gamma rays of .511 MeV emerging from lightnings gives support for both electro-pion production and dissipationless acceleration mechanism in large hbar phase (see this). The strong electric fields created by the positively charged thunder cloud would induce an acceleration of dark electrons to relativistic energies and their collisions would take place at the cloud producing electro-pions decaying to pairs of gamma rays. If thunder cloud can act as large hbar particle accelerator, it should be possible for us to build it. If colleagues were some day psychologically mature to to take TGD seriously, LHC could become one of the last dinosaurs and experimental particle physics might transform from an activity of gigantic Pentagon like organizations to something possible for gifted and devoted individuals in home laboratory.