The Standard Model and Beyond

The 20th century brought us enormous advances in understanding the most basic constituents of space, time, and matter. All known particles and forces are assembled and described in what is known as "The Standard Model". This allows us to calculate precisely what happens when particles collide with energies up to the equivalent of a trillion Volt for every charged particle. But there still is unexplored terrain: what exactly happens beyond those trillion Volts, and how exactly does the gravitational force enter into the picture? Gravity can turn space and time into "black holes", and when these black holes interact with particles, our mathematical tools fall short. (paper)