Sidebars

Gravitational lensing in galaxy cluster Abell 2218. NASA, A Fruchter and the ERO Team (STScl).
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Not Just Colliders

Discovering the Quantum Universe describes the role of the next generation of particle accelerators, the LHC and the ILC, in discovering laws of physics that will radically transform the human conception of the universe. While their role will be crucial, however, accelerators will not be the only tools that scientists use to answer the most compelling questions about the nature of matter and energy, space and time. Astrophysical and cosmological observations, in space and from the ground, are also exploring the fundamental parameters of the universe. Underground experiments are watching for the subtle signals of dark matter passing through ultrasensitive detectors.

Artist's conception of the GLAST spacecraft in orbit
above the Earth. Credit: Spectrum Astro
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No single scientific approach will suffice. For example, it took results from astrophysical and cosmological observations to reveal that most of the universe is made of dark matter and dark energy. It will take discoveries at accelerators to show exactly what they are and how they work.

To answer the most challenging questions about the nature of the universe, all the approaches must converge. Results from accelerator experiments must agree with astrophysical observations and results from underground. Discovering the quantum universe requires combining the most powerful and insightful observations in each of these different scientific approaches, in a synthesis far more powerful than any of them could achieve alone.