9 June 2012

No Higgs would be the end of string theory

In a month from now, we will hear, at the ICHEP conference whether the LHC has confirmed the 125 GeV Higgs signal. String theorists are trembling!

If the Higgs is not confirmed, then supersymmetry cannot be correct. And if supersmmetry is not correct, string theory is not correct. What a wonderful occasion for nature to show us the way. After 40 years, all these funny string theorists will hear from nature. Nature will finally tell them, for the first time in their life. Will string theorists jump around laughing and happy, or will they collectively run to their therapists? Will they finally see the fruit of their labours, or will they fall into depression?

Maybe nature will not tell us? Maybe CERN will only publish a result like the following: "There remains an open window from 120 to 130 GeV. In between we do not have enough data."

Or, maybe, one of the founders of string theory will come up, like Marcel Duchamp, and tell: "All I did was just a joke!"

Or maybe, string theorists will find a reason, overlooked for 40 years, that string theory is possible even without a Higgs boson?

Great times ahead!