Catching up with our favourite string theory curmudgeon Peter Woit at Not Even Wrong: He captures the mood of people trying to keep an idea alive (supersymmetry, SUSY) when the evidence is just not found in nature:
The headline story at the APS Physics site is Still Waiting for Supersymmetry, by Sven Heinemeyer, which reports on a PRL article from CMS reporting no evidence for supersymmetry.
According to Heinemeyer:
It’s important to realize that CMS’s results do not exclude supersymmetric theories. …
… The other interpretation is even simpler: while supersymmetry is realized in nature, it might not take the form described by the CMSSM, …
Woit comments,
I would have thought that there’s an even simpler third alternative: no supersymmetry in nature at all, but I’m not a SUSY phenomenologist…
Much interesting material in the comments.
Well, it’s a bit like SETI; them cosmic strings just gotta be there. On the bright side, at least no one is accusing the US government of hiding the supersymmetry.
Being accused of hiding stuff that – inconveniently – doesn’t likely exist is much more tiresome than being accused of hiding stuff that – inconveniently – does exist. In the latter case, you can at least know whether you hid it or not. 😉