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What are the 'things to watch' in physics happening in the next year or so? E.g. A big astronomical event that happens only every n thousand years, or an experiment in particle physics which will validate or invalidate a theory, or ...

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    $\begingroup$ This is (nearly) impossible to answer because we cannot predict the future. $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Sep 18, 2014 at 20:57
  • $\begingroup$ I think I haven't been very clear, I mean the sort of things we can predict or dates on which something will be launched, space shuttle launches or an important astronomical event or an experiment which people think might be important to a field of physics $\endgroup$ Sep 18, 2014 at 21:04

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You never know! That's the fun part of it. Having said that, there are a few game changers that could happen within the next years, like LHC finding signs of supersymmetry, or a positive result from a gravitational wave observatory. Then there is the search for dark matter candidates, someone may find signs of non-Newtonian gravity at short distances, there is the question of the gravitational interaction of anti-matter. Neutrino masses are still not completely understood, there is the question of additional neutrino flavors, axion searches and lots more...

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    $\begingroup$ The release of the full Planck results later on should provide a nice counterpart to the recent BICEP announcement. $\endgroup$ Sep 18, 2014 at 21:16
  • $\begingroup$ @EmilioPisanty: Any bets? $\endgroup$
    – CuriousOne
    Sep 18, 2014 at 21:21
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    $\begingroup$ Good thing I didn't bet. $\endgroup$ Jan 8, 2016 at 17:43
  • $\begingroup$ @EmilioPisanty: OK... is he saying that this puts a lot of restrictions on inflation models? That would be good news, if true. My bets were always on something else other than inflation, anyway, which doesn't mean there can't be no inflation, but it would be nice if inflation wouldn't wipe out any other signals of the really early universe before it happened. $\endgroup$
    – CuriousOne
    Jan 8, 2016 at 18:13
  • $\begingroup$ Not really sure - it's not really my field, and I'm not really in a position to second-guess people with reasons to say that inflation happened. The whole hoollaballoo from last year does look a bit quaint now, though. $\endgroup$ Jan 8, 2016 at 18:17

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