Why do we have to keep dreaming up new magic particles like the Higgs boson to keep the standard model working

Answer 1

You have a Hollywood view of the stereotypical "established" physicist. You, know, the one the hero is always butting heads with to make a revolutionary advance.

Physicists have long known that the standard model is only effective in a limited regime. None would be more pleased than to find an exception to its predictions because history teaches that that's when the door opens up to the next big theory. They are not "dreaming up" new particles to look for. They look for and, to date, eventually find the particles predicted by the standard model. Not finding one predicted would actually be more exciting, since that door would open just a crack. The Higgs is the next one being sought, and it will probably be sitting there dutifully in the data like it's suppose to. If so, we'll all be a bit disappointed, but maybe the next time the standard model will crack.

Answer 2

sometimes there's something that the research physicists can't explain using the standard methods, so they make up a new name or variable. it's how a lot of the more esoteric constants came about, but experimentally, they always work, so their creation is justified.

Answer 3

because the only explaination is God, and people don't want to resort to that - but they will have to one day.