New particle searches

The Standard Model is a remarkable result of decades of work in particle physics, but it is clearly an incomplete representation of the world. Exploring possibilities beyond the Standard Model is a major preoccupation of both theorists and experimentalists. Despite the many suggestions that are extant about the missing links within the Standard Model as well as extensions beyond it, no hard experimental evidence exists. In particular, in more than five years of experimentation both at PETRA and PEP no new particles have been found that would indicate new physics. Several reasons are possible for these negative results: the particles may be too heavy; the experiments may not be looking in the proper way; the cross sections may be too small or finally the particles may not exist. A continuing PEP program, at high luminosity will ensure that the second and third reason continue to be addressed. The higher energy e+e- storage rings such as TRISTAN and LEP will extend the mass limits. High mass particles can also be produced at the CERN collider and soon with the Tevatron collider. A concise summary of the mass limits from the PETRA experiments has been given in a recent Mark J publication. The results shown provide a convenient yardstick against which to measure future search experiments