Research in theoretical elementary particle physics will include efforts to make contact between superstring theory and experimental physics, and to predict the experimental signals that would be expected in the presence in nature of supersymmetry. Superstring theory is a promising candidate for a theory that describes all the forces of nature, including gravity, but determining the experimentally testable consequences of this theory is a very difficult and important problem Supersymmetry relates the behavior of particles (such as the electron) which are the constituents of matter to that of particles (such as the photon) which serve as the carriers of the various forces. If superstring theory is right, then supersymmetry is indeed present in nature, so the consequences of this presence are important to elucidate.
