That would be awesome if they have indeed found something substantive.
There's a webcast that's supposed to be available to the general public here http://cern.ch/webcast if anyone's interested (btw the seminar is scheduled for 9am wednesday CERN time (12 midnight PST))
Nice. I will be listening to that webcast.
"I agree that any reasonable outside observer would say, 'It looks like a discovery,'" British theoretical physicist John Ellis, a professor at King's College London who has worked at CERN since the 1970s, told The Associated Press. "We've discovered something which is consistent with being a Higgs."
Closer and closer!
That would be awesome if they have indeed found something substantive.
Indeed!
@ samm: Thanks for the webcast info!
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I will wait to applaud until it has actually been published and expanded upon. They have "found" the Higgs boson, what 3 times now? If true this time it will be a great piece of the puzzle that is physics, but still not the last piece. Like finding the corner piece on a 1,000 piece puzzle it points us in the right direction but is not the answer in and of itself. There is still so much research to be done and so much left for us to know.
I will try to watch the webcast.
This is like mapping mass' genome! I hope we get this right...
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I would really think that anything at superposition to time and space and the Universe would be a little difficult to detect inside the Universe.
Don't forget the Higgs is spinless. KGF informs YMH, imparting a standard field dynamic to the original scalar model.
Plus we see this all the time in scattering effects for longer-lived particles.
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Any estimate of the higg`s mass ?I would really think that anything at superposition to time and space and the Universe would be a little difficult to detect inside the Universe.Don't forget the Higgs is spinless. KGF informs YMH, imparting a standard field dynamic to the original scalar model.
Plus we see this all the time in scattering effects for longer-lived particles.
This should be its own thread--Ladies and Gentlemen, place your bets!
My guess:
122 GeV
I thought the theory was that the Higgs is what gave things mass
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What do I know, just throwing out numbers.
With any baryon or lepton parity, you get six unflavored jets. The Z couples from mixed neutralinos delta out at about 1.5 times less than normal decay: 89 GeV.
There are a bunch at Fermilab arguing this number.
Well it was a semi-educated guess. I am not in fermilab levels though. Nice to know I was close to what the big brains think.
many things give off mass.
Great. I feel fatter already. {sigh}
many things give off mass.
Great. I feel fatter already. {sigh} ;)
^ this
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many things give off mass.
You don't understand. Higgs would be the precursor reason as to why Protons and other particles have mass. Higgs would be a key part in answering the question on how to marry gravity which is the major stickout in the union of the four basic forces. (gravity, electromagnetism, the strong, and the weak nuclear forces) What we're sure of is that gravity was the first to separate, we don't however yet have the math to describe that particular separation of gravity from the other three, or the preceding combination of those four forces.
Higgs would have existed when conditions precluded the existence of later mass bearing particles. It's breakdown would link the rise of those particles to the era that preceded them. (In this case when we talk about eras we're talking about a time span eqivalent to somewhere around the billionth of a billionth of a second after the Big Bang)
You would be quite surprised at what I do understand. Just because I don't wish to write a five page thesis on a gaming website does not mean I don't have a fairly good grasp on the situation.
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Ah, time for a Civil Physics Discussion thread? :)
I think the problem with discussing physics with a written language is that language, especially English, can be very accurate and yet imprecise at the same time. The best way to discuss physics is... math.
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And clearly, the "God" in God particle refers to Eris.
Well, duh.
What are the potential future goals for the Super Collider once the Higgs Boson is found or proven not to exist? I'm wondering what else do physicists have in store for such an amazing machine.
Also, when will the discovery of the Higgs Boson open way for new varieties of ice-cream? I must know this.
What are the potential future goals for the Super Collider once the Higgs Boson is found or proven not to exist?
I believe (but cannot recall for certain) that there are potential Higgs masses above the range of the LHC, so the LHC can't prove it to not exist.
If proved to exist, well, the obvious next step would be trying to work out its properties. Since physicists have been having trouble reconciling quantum mechanics with general relativity, and general relativity with the observed motion of galaxies (see "dark matter" and "dark energy"), there are any number of possible insights that might come from detailed studies of the Higgs beyond merely confirming its existence.
The LHC has many functions and looking for the HB is just one of the experiments being carried out. It shall not lack for use for decades to come.
Ah, time for a Civil Physics Discussion thread? :)
I think the problem with discussing physics with a written language is that language, especially English, can be very accurate and yet imprecise at the same time. The best way to discuss physics is... math.
...
And clearly, the "God" in God particle refers to Eris.
. Thor, because Mjolnir defines an object both with and without mass.
The LHC has many functions and looking for the HB is just one of the experiments being carried out. It shall not lack for use for decades to come.
I still have an unfulfilled contract order for a portable hole...
125 GeV at ~5 sigma (CMS results - I think ATLAS got 126 GeV)
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I lost a substantial amont in a bet with a friend (and I'm pretty sure he had some inside information!), but I'm so excited that I don't even care. I'm re-running my calculations over the next few days: I was really really sure it was 122 GeV (122.5).
I run BOINC (LHC@ home), which adds my computers to CERN's total network processing scheme. It ends up costing me around $91 extra a year in electricity, since my computers are always on, but I get to see the data extracts and feel like I'm an active if admittedly small part[icle] in unlocking the Universe.
I'd encourage anyone here to sign up and do the same: every bit counts!
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I lost a substantial amont in a bet with a friend (and I'm pretty sure he had some inside information!), but I'm so excited that I don't even care. I'm re-running my calculations over the next few days: I was really really sure it was 122 GeV (122.5).
I run BOINC (LHC@ home), which adds my computers to CERN's total network processing scheme. It ends up costing me around $91 extra a year in electricity, since my computers are always on, but I get to see the data extracts and feel like I'm an active if admittedly small part[icle] in unlocking the Universe.
I'd encourage anyone here to sign up and do the same: every bit counts!
I was beginning to think I was the only one. Although to be fair a large portion of my computers run SETI processing. Imma geek like that.
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The Higgs boson walks into a cathedral.
The priest says "We don't allow Higgs bosons in here."
The Higgs boson says "But without me, how can you have mass?"
lol
The Higgs boson walks into a cathedral.
The priest says "We don't allow Higgs bosons in here."
The Higgs boson says "But without me, how can you have mass?"
Saw that online, was not amused.
Clearly you need to shed some Higgy Babies and- {puts on sunglasses} ...lighten up. ;)
I also propose we officially nickname the Higgs boson as "Higgy Baby."
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Physics grad student here, so will clear up a few misconceptions:
* Physicists never use the term "God particle". It's only used in popular science. As far as I know the name "God particle" came about because one author wanted to call it 'that godd*mn particle' to reflect the difficulty in finding it. Naturally the editor didn't like it and the name stuck.
* This is the first statistically significant result. Previous Higg's boson results weren't solid enough to really claim a discovery. The Tevatron has seen hints, but nothing significant enough to claim discovery. Sadly science reporting tends to blow a lot out of proportion and/or state misleading interpretations of the results of many scientific findings.
* Actually, this may not even be the Higg's boson. Technically, it's just a discovery which is consistent with it being a Higg's boson. Various properties of the new particle need to be checked to really confirm what it is.
* In the Standard Model it's the Higg's Field which gives particles mass, not the Higg's boson itself. It's a subtle technicality. The simplest explanation I know of is that the Higg's Field causes a 'drag' on particles which we observe as mass. The Higg's boson is an excitation of the Higg's Field, kinda like a 'blip' in the field. If you want details, just look up 'Electroweak Symmetry Breaking'. Just kidding...sorta ;) . It's hard to describe this without using math!
* There are many other things the LHC can look for. It is well known that the Standard Model is not the final theory of nature. There are also a ton of known ways of extending the Standard Model, but no way of knowing which way is correct (if any). So it's been looking for signatures of these various extensions. Some of the simplest cases (MSSM?) have already been ruled out.
I can't remember where I saw it, but someone described it thus:
Proving the existence of the Higg's Boson is like Copernicus declaring the Earth revolves around the Sun. It's scientifically interesting and provides a stepping stone toward further discoveries about the universe, but won't see any practical use for another four hundred years.