FUTURE SUMMARY

Abstract

We are emerging from a period of consolidation in particle physics. Its great, historic achievement was to establish the Theory of Matter. This Theory will serve as our description of ordinary matter under ordinary conditions — allowing for an extremely liberal definition of "ordinary" — for the foreseeable future. Yet there are many indications, ranging from the numerical to the semimystical, that a new fertile period lies before us. We will discover compelling evidence for the unification of fundamental forces and for new quantum dimensions (low-energy supersymmetry). We will identify new forms of matter, which dominate the mass density of the Universe. We will achieve much better fundamental understanding of the behavior of matter in extreme astrophysical and cosmological environments. Lying beyond these expectations, we can identify deep questions that seem to call for ideas outside our present grasp. And there is still plenty of room for surprises.