Particles - higgs boson

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

You will never believe this, CERN have found a new particle, possible the universe smallest "building block". They call it too "God's particle"


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16074411

[Txur’Itan]

You will never believe this, CERN have found a new particle, possible the universe smallest "building block". They call it too "God's particle"


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16074411

I am actually thrilled by the potential discovery.

I think this deserves its own thread.

[Kamean]

It's really awesome!

[hemmond]

Yes! I knew it! I knew it all the time! Something had to be like that... Now they had provided me an evidence! But really... Wou! They did a great job.

[Lance R. Casey]

CERN have found a new particle

They haven't, really.

"Let's put it this way: if we were testing a theory that everyone thought was wrong, rather than one that everyone thinks is right, nobody would take these results as strong indications that the idea was correct. We have a strong theoretical bias that the Higgs exists and is somewhere close to this mass range, so it's completely reasonable to think that we are seeing hints (tantalizing ones!) that it's there, but wait-and-see is still the right attitude."
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2011/12/13/science-it-marches-on/

[Txur’Itan]

CERN have found a new particle

They haven't, really.

"Let's put it this way: if we were testing a theory that everyone thought was wrong, rather than one that everyone thinks is right, nobody would take these results as strong indications that the idea was correct. We have a strong theoretical bias that the Higgs exists and is somewhere close to this mass range, so it's completely reasonable to think that we are seeing hints (tantalizing ones!) that it's there, but wait-and-see is still the right attitude."
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2011/12/13/science-it-marches-on/

LOL @ Image...

Yes, they are at 1.9 sigma from the data still...

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

A paper I recently stumbled across from 1997, before a single proton had seen the inside of the LHC, suggested that the Higgs particles' mass was at the low end of the possible range. This has been the general feeling of other scientists as well. So, no surprises that hints of Higgs are showing up in the low mass end of the possible range of masses. (The masses in the middle have now been excluded, from work earlier this year.)

In September, it was reported that scientists were observing a 'excess of energy' in the mass range where the Higgs particle is expected to be hiding. They said at tha time that they 'would know by the end of the year if the Higgs particle existed'. Well, it looks like we are indeed seeing evidence of that. But considering how fast massive particles decay, I bet it will be a while before someone can say 'beyond a reasonable doubt, there's a signature of a Higgs boson'. we may not even really know what the signature of this particle looks like. These giant machines are always teaching us something new.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the particle scale, an experiment demonstrated the existence of the 'dynamical Kasimir effect', an 'artifact' of the fact that even vacuum has a finite energy associated with it, and photons are popping up and disappearing-- everywhere, all the time. We cannot normally measure this energy because its overall vector sum adds to zero. But disturb the vacuum energy in just the right way (with a superconducting microwave resonator in this case, which allowed some electrons to be accelerated to relativistic speeds), and some of these photons become displaced from where they are, and become measurable. These two very different discoveries (Higgs and the Dynamical Kasimir Effect) interlock, and they relate to things like the 'lamb shift', 'renormalization' and the 'fine structure constant'. This may even be our first glimpse of dark matter.

[Txur’Itan]

Dark matter presumably could be in its own thread.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

Dark matter presumably could be in its own thread.

Or it could BE it's own thread

[Human No More]

You will never believe this, CERN have found a new particle, possible the universe smallest "building block". They call it too "God's particle"


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16074411

No, they don't. Nice try... 

It was dubbed the 'god particle' by some simply as a reference to it being the element that ties understanding of physics (well, the standard model, at any rate) together (so, a misnomer), and its discovery makes no claims about mythology.

...it also hasn't been confirmed yet, it's just that results are expected

[Lance R. Casey]

Increased probabilities of discovery:
http://www.nature.com/news/higgs-signal-gains-strength-1.9992
http://www.science20.com/quantum_diaries_survivor/atlas_and_cms_publish_2011_higgs_results-86735

However:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2012/02/04/a-3-8-sigma-anomaly/

Further experiments come spring will likely settle the question.

[Niwantaw]

I was told the reason for it being called the God particle is nothing to do with any God...

...It was because they were so goddamned hard to find.


This was from a science teacher though :l

[Kamean]

Increased probabilities of discovery:
http://www.nature.com/news/higgs-signal-gains-strength-1.9992
http://www.science20.com/quantum_diaries_survivor/atlas_and_cms_publish_2011_higgs_results-86735

However:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2012/02/04/a-3-8-sigma-anomaly/

Further experiments come spring will likely settle the question.

Interesting. 

[Txur’Itan]

Increased probabilities of discovery:
http://www.nature.com/news/higgs-signal-gains-strength-1.9992
http://www.science20.com/quantum_diaries_survivor/atlas_and_cms_publish_2011_higgs_results-86735

However:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2012/02/04/a-3-8-sigma-anomaly/

Further experiments come spring will likely settle the question.

Interesting. 

From: http://www.nature.com/news/higgs-signal-gains-strength-1.9992

Taken together with data from the other detector, ATLAS, Higgs' overall signal now unofficially stands at about 4.3 sigma. In other words, if statistics are to be believed, then this signal has about a 99.996% chance of being right.

I wonder if that is an assertion; an agreed upon statistical analysis result that will occur?

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

They call the Higgs boson the 'God particle' because it is believed responsible for giving mass to all other particles. Mass as we experience it has been described as a kind of 'friction' that all particles 'feel' from the Higgs field. The more they 'feel' this field, the more mass the particle appears to have. It is interesting that the Higgs particle itself is quite massive.

I'll have to read all of these articles, but this sounds like very good news!

When I checked yesterday, all but three of the eight sectors of the machine were cooled down to about 10 K. Two of the three others were around 40 K, and the remaining one was being actively cooled down. So, they are getting ready to put the machine back on line after the Christmas break.

[Seze Mune]

It leads to the speculation that the equipment creates the particle, in the sense that a machine configured differently might find something else as an explanation.

We hypothesize the particle, then we design the equipment which points to it.  When it doesn't find it, we tweak the equipment so that it can find what we're already looking for.

As far as we know so far, humans have only five senses to collect data.  That doesn't mean that's all the data which exists to collect.  It only means that's the limit of our perception.  What really exists 'out there' and how it operates may be way beyond our present ability to comprehend.

FWIW, one quote I read about the LHC and the Higgs Boson made the sharp point, "It all sounds very convincing, but keep your hat on, because the fact is that statistical coincidences happen every day. Over at Cosmic Variance, Sean Carroll points out that there is a 3.8σ signal in the Super Bowl coin toss. Does that mean that they've discovered a super-partner to the bowl? No. (If you don't get that joke, don't worry, it was written only as punishment for those who would)."  

[Human No More]

Increased probabilities of discovery:
http://www.nature.com/news/higgs-signal-gains-strength-1.9992
http://www.science20.com/quantum_diaries_survivor/atlas_and_cms_publish_2011_higgs_results-86735

However:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2012/02/04/a-3-8-sigma-anomaly/

Further experiments come spring will likely settle the question.

Interesting. 

From: http://www.nature.com/news/higgs-signal-gains-strength-1.9992

Taken together with data from the other detector, ATLAS, Higgs' overall signal now unofficially stands at about 4.3 sigma. In other words, if statistics are to be believed, then this signal has about a 99.996% chance of being right.

I wonder if that is an assertion; an agreed upon statistical analysis result that will occur?

Seems likely to me. Statistics isn't my strong point, but IIRC, the standard is uncertainty of less than 0.05.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

It leads to the speculation that the equipment creates the particle, in the sense that a machine configured differently might find something else as an explanation.

We hypothesize the particle, then we design the equipment which points to it.  When it doesn't find it, we tweak the equipment so that it can find what we're already looking for.

The LHC is created to find all sorts of other things (including things heretofire unknown) besides the Higgs particle. It is simply designed to collide particles of matter at relativistic velocities, and measure the results with a variety of detectors. And it has lived up to its expectations. (BTW, for those interested, as of right now all but two sectors are down to operating tempreature (1.8 K) and the remaining two are down to just above 4 K. At the rate they are cooling, they should be ready in 24-36 hours. They are just about ready to start bringing the machine up for the year!)

As far as we know so far, humans have only five senses to collect data.  That doesn't mean that's all the data which exists to collect.  It only means that's the limit of our perception.  What really exists 'out there' and how it operates may be way beyond our present ability to comprehend.

Although I think we also have some ability to sense stuff in the spirit realm, you are basically right about the senses. This is why we build machines to measure things our senses cannot detect.

FWIW, one quote I read about the LHC and the Higgs Boson made the sharp point, "It all sounds very convincing, but keep your hat on, because the fact is that statistical coincidences happen every day. Over at Cosmic Variance, Sean Carroll points out that there is a 3.8σ signal in the Super Bowl coin toss. Does that mean that they've discovered a super-partner to the bowl? No. (If you don't get that joke, don't worry, it was written only as punishment for those who would)."  

This is why scientists never use the word 'fact' 

[Niri Te]

 Here is a news story that just came to my computer from the local ABC Station in El Paso, nothing Earth shaking, but a nice update to show what everyone is up to concerning the Higgs Boson.

Scientists Say They've Cornered The Elusive 'God Particle
POSTED: 11:01 am MST March 9, 2012
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UPDATED: 11:07 am MST March 9, 2012
WASHINGTON -- More scientists are getting closer in the search for the "God particle" of physics that would help explain the fundamentals of the universe, but they haven't found it yet.

In the hunt for the Higgs boson, which is key to understanding why matter has mass, two teams of physicists using results from a now-closed American accelerator have come up with similar findings to those announced late last year by researchers at the more powerful Large Hadron Collider in Europe. While the scientists using the two accelerators have not found the elusive subatomic particle, they both have narrowed the area where it can be found, if it exists. And they know where it isn't.

Work done in the Tevatron collider at the Fermi National Lab near Chicago provides important independent confirmation of the getting-closer announcement last year by CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research near Geneva, researchers said. The results from work by more than 800 scientists were to be announced in Italy on Wednesday.

"Globally the world is starting to see a consistent picture," said Fermi physicist Rob Roser, a spokesman for one team. "I don't think there's any place for the Higgs to hide. We'll know the answer one way or another by the end of 2012."

Roser said just because they have seen hints of the Higgs, it's not enough. "I'm not even willing to bet your house on it, let alone mine," he said Tuesday.

At Fermi, two teams independently used the accelerator in different ways. Two other teams in Europe used the Large Hadron Collider. Fermi's Tevatron collides protons and antiprotons together, while CERN smashes protons together. That means four different groups using different techniques and equipment have come to the same general conclusion.

Still, that's not certain enough for scientists to even call it evidence, Roser said.

While the results from Fermi's collider aren't as precise as CERN's, they are important because they give the European results more credence, Harvard University physicist Gary Feldman said.

The Tevatron closed in September, so it is likely that the final discovery of the Higgs will be in Europe, Roser said.

The Higgs, first hypothesized 40 years ago, is important to physics because it is crucial to the standard model theory that helps explain the six particles that make up the universe, Roser and Feldman said. Without it, there is no explanation for why the particles have mass.

"It would be a triumph of the theory to actually see that it happens," Feldman said.

[Tsanten Eywa 'eveng]

Very interesting, Niri Te


Irayo for sharing it



But I am a little sceptical if the Higgs Boson really exist