The 25 most important questions in physics

[pmbryant]

Via Sean Carroll's Preposterous Universe blog and John Ellis' entry in Quantum Diaries, here is a list of what 2004 Physics Nobel winner David Gross thinks are the 25 most important questions in physics today:

1 - The origin of the Universe:

Was there a Big Bang, was it preceded by a Big Crunch, ....

2 - The nature of Dark Matter:

Is it composed of some unknown elementary particle, if so, what ....

3 - The nature of Dark Energy:

What is its microphysical origin, is it constant or varying ....

4 - The formation of structures in the Universe:

Testing the standard Cold Dark Matter paradigm, formation of stars ..

5 - The validity of General Relativity:

Does it work at all scales, in strong fields, ....

6 - The validity of Quantum Mechanics:

Is it modified at short distances, for large systems, in the Universe ...

7 - The problems not solved by the Standard Model of particles:

Particle types, masses and mixing, unification of forces ....

8 - The existence of supersymmetry:

Does this framework for new physics appear at accessible energies ....

9 - The solution of QCD:

Can it be solved analytically, e.g., via a string model ....

10 - The nature of string theory:

What is it ....

11 - The nature of space and time:

Are they fundamental or emergent phenomena ....

12 - Whether the laws of physics are unique:

Perhaps they are statistical accidents ....

13 - Can kinematics, dynamics and initial conditions be separated:

Perhaps they cannot be disentangled ....

14 - Are there new states of condensed matter:

Not just the usual Fermi liquids ....

15 - The understanding of complexity in computing:

Is there something beyond the artefacts of approximations ....

16 - The construction of a quantum computer:

One with 10,000 qbits would be useful ....

17 - The existence of a room-temperature superconductor:

It would make a technological revolution ....

18 - The existence of a theory of biology:

Does it have an underlying conceptual structure, like physics ....

19 - Deducing physical form from genomics:

Can one deduce the shape of an organism from its DNA sequence ....

20 - The physical basis of consciousness:

New physics, emergent phenomenon, or ....

21 - Could a computer become a creative physicist:

Would we train it starting from Newton and Einstein ....

22 - How to avoid the balkanization of physics:

People from different fields should understand each other ....

23 - The scope of reductionism:

Is it universal, or do new laws emerge in complex systems ....

24 - The role of theory:

Does it lead or follow experiment ....

25 - How to avoid depending on unrealizable big physics projects:

They cannot continue for ever growing in size, cost and time-scale ....

[brainshrub]

1. 26. If you spell Dog back-wards, you get God.

Why is that?

Discuss.

[OneBlueSky]

3. 27. Does anything fill the vaccuum between Bush's ears? . . . n/t

.

[sakabatou]

5. 28. Can you vacuum seal all the RW pundits' heads?

[trotsky]

2. Cool stuff.

The next generation of supercolliders will likely answer several of these, which is tantalizing.

But #24 seems like a "chicken-or-the-egg" question to me. Sometimes you come up with a theory to try and explain something, then test it with an experiment. Other times, you are running an experiment and find an unexplained phenomenon, and come up with a theory. Which of course is followed up with more experiments, which leads to refinement of the theory, etc.

[On the Road]

4. I Saw an an Article on Improvement in Collider Technology

in which streams of charged particles could be accelerated further with lasers, I think it was. Makes it easier to reach Higgs particle energies. Good thing -- the estimates were raised further recenty.