I might be wrong, but I do have a feeling that scientists are disappointed by the lack of new findings. It's somehow felt in the way that latest studies are written and news items are covered. I am talking about supersymmetry, but there are other subjects I have read.
What I really like about the progress is that all of you methodically poke it from all sides in the hope that it gives you more insight into how it behaves and at what energy levels. This is what I like about the scientific method and I really hope that you find it. Or something else that will challenge the model even more :P
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First, I am not disappointed. Most theories cannot be unravelled at the LHC, and deviations from the Standard Model may still hide. There is no guarantee to find anything. However, one knows where to look for deviations and new phenomena, and designing techniques to unravel them is interesting as such.
Second, we have not found anything new, that is true. But there is a bunch of intriguing puzzles that we should try to explain somehow without ruining the fact that we have not found any new particle. And this is not an easy task.
To come back a minute on supersymmetry, there are actually many many theories that could extend the standard model. Supersymmetry is one class of them, and only a tiny fraction of all supersymmetric concrete realizations is actually excluded by data.
The important point today is to investigate which models are more likely to be viable, and how to test the remaining ones better. This task is enormous, and much more complicated than if we had a new particle to start with. It is also a good time to learn about the different existing paradigms, try to see how one could test them simultaneously, etc.
So yes, there may be no new Nobel prize in a close future. But the amount of physics to be studied is just enormous. We have data coming from everywhere, and even null results give strong indication on what new phenomena could be or could not be. What is clear is that the Standard Model is not complete. But how to complete is still unknown, and we have actually no clue on how to do that. Therefore, all options must be tried!
I know!
It was bound to get harder sooner or later. The time of discovering things as a hobby is long gone.
I understand the monumental task and I really can't wait to see the Standard Model being updated. I might not understand all that I read in this field, but I still want to know the answers, when they are discovered :P
Congrats on getting work published. That's always nice!
Hopefully we will see something during our lifetime. There is no guarantee on this :D