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    $\begingroup$ Interestingly, the highest energy particles we've ever seen as cosmic rays don't give us that much higher energy available to create particles than the LHC does. The LHC is currently colliding protons at a center of mass energy of $13~\rm TeV$, and the highest energy cosmic ray we've ever seen only achieved a center of mass energy only reached in the ballpark of $400~\rm TeV$ center of mass energy. Definitely within human limits (if, as you say, we were willing to spend the money on it). $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 8:02
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for taking the time to respond, but I'm not really asking whether funding for particle physics in general yields diminishing returns. Rather, presupposing both adequate funding and the trend to increasingly large accelerators, my question is why, and if it will necessarily always be the case? $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 8:29
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    $\begingroup$ The main challenge with natural sources is that they aren't in a controlled environment. It's hard enough to figure out what's happening inside the LHC, a tightly controlled environment - isolating the results of a random particle hitting the atmosphere from background noise etc. is pretty much impossible. There's a few observations that can be done even then, but it only scratches the surface. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 11:17
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    $\begingroup$ agree, it puts us back into the days of flying glass photographic plates on balloons and hoping to catch a positron or two. but what are the alternatives? $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 18:50
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    $\begingroup$ "the frontiers of particle physics are at higher energies" Depends what physics you're doing. There is a reason the US DOE identifies three frontiers: energy, intensity, and cosmic. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 25, 2018 at 22:08