6 ms·

CERN scientists to announce proof of Higgs boson found

119 points by merraksh 14y ago

SquareWheel 14y ago
To steal a user's comment, finally an article that doesn't include "God particle" in the headline. I was rather disappointed in the CBC.
- JonnieCache 14y ago
  Still includes it in the article body though. Phys.org sucks. Take your pick from this Atlantic roundup of physics bloggers, some of them directly involved in the experiments, for the real scoop: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2012/07/best-physics-gossips-you-should-be-reading/54123/ http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2012/07/best-physics-g... EDIT: this guy at nature claims " The ATLAS and CMS experiments are each seeing signals between 4.5 and 5 sigma" http://www.nature.com/news/physicists-find-new-particle-but-is-it-the-higgs-1.10932 http://www.nature.com/news/physicists-find-new-particle-but-... With the combination that could put us over the magic 6 sigma point, but that is a political issue apparently.
- tokenadult 14y ago
  Leon Lederman, who popularized the phrase "God particle" with his book, http://www.amazon.com/The-God-Particle-Universe-Question/dp/0618711686/ http://www.amazon.com/The-God-Particle-Universe-Question/dp/... has some serious street cred as a physicist http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1988/lederman-autobio.html http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/198... and as a promoter science education reform. (I heard him speak on the latter subject in my town at a science museum a few years ago.) I agree with you that a term like that probably needs explanation in a popular article about physics, but I can think of much more harmful terms in popular articles about science.
  - SquareWheel 14y ago
    but I can think of much more harmful terms "Evolution? It's just a theory!"
pagejim 14y ago
Here is an easy to understand article about implications of this discovery: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/07/higgs-boson-breaks-physics/ http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/07/higgs-boson-breaks...
- midko 14y ago
  And here's an animated introductory explanation of the Higgs boson particle http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120501.html http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120501.html
pessimist 14y ago
They have certainly found something that is very close to the Higgs Boson predicted by the standard model of particle physics. How do they know its the Higgs? http://blog.vixra.org/2012/06/24/higgs-discovery-on-the-brink-but-is-it-the-higgs/ http://blog.vixra.org/2012/06/24/higgs-discovery-on-the-brin... There are some intriguing unexpected signals in the data that is public so far: http://blog.vixra.org/2012/06/29/whats-the-deal-with-h-%E2%86%92-ww/ http://blog.vixra.org/2012/06/29/whats-the-deal-with-h-%E2%8...
- nilaykumar 14y ago
  We don't yet know if whatever we see is or is not the SM Higgs. That's why the LHC is scheduled to continue running through the year, so we can get more details. All we can really say at this point is we see something. Heck, we've been able to say that from December!
- jessriedel 14y ago
  > How do they know its the Higgs? Woit's comment is a pretty succinct explanation: > The standard model gives very specific predictions for the behavior of the Higgs, which are fixed by the distinctive properties of the Higgs field (spontaneous breaking of the SU(2) gauge symmetry fixes how it interacts with gauge fields, giving mass to fermions fixes its interaction with them). These predictions have for a long long time shown that if the Higgs mass is 125 GeV, it could not be observed until the energies and luminosities of the LHC were available, and then it should be seen with certain specific signal sizes in certain specific decay channels. > What the LHC experiments are seeing is, after decades of no such signal in these and similar channels, signals appearing in just the right channels, with roughly the right signal size. If this isn’t a Higgs, it’s something very like it. http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=4809&cpage=1#comment-115426 http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=4809&cpa...
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
zerostar07 14y ago
It would be more interesting if they did not find it. LHC needs more exciting results to justify its cost.
- ThomPete 14y ago
  I think that is a general misconception. Each time we increase our understanding of something, we also gain new tools to solve questions. Think of this as long term investments for humanity, then the price is microscopic.
  - zerostar07 14y ago
    There is a lot of politics in this. Particle Physics is not the only area where we have unanswered questions or need more tools (but it does have a spectacular track record and influential community behind it).
    - ThomPete 14y ago
      Oh I agree there are many other areas. But no other area than physics have given us so many inventions, because no other area is a fundamental as this. We are playing with as close to universals as we can come here. Just think about the amount of years it took from the inception of QM up to today and how much it has given us in return. Extraordinay returns require extraordinary investments. But yes there is a limit obviously.
  - Symmetry 14y ago
    What I think the GP is saying is that its unfortunate that this experiment only confirmed our understanding of physics rather than increasing it. We only learned that our suppositions about QM were correct, there weren't any of the anomalies that have led to new physics in the past. Personally, I'd say that $9B is a fair price to pay for confirmation, but I'd have been happier to get more.
    - adobriyan 14y ago
      Higgs stuff is not the only event happening at LHC.
losethos 14y ago
Let's ask God the highest energy particle, evar! God says... 7:2 Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies. 7:3 Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins. 7:4 Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus. 7:5 Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries. 7:6 How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! 7:7 This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OqlTXwLG40 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OqlTXwLG40 perhaps E.T.? Boo ivory tower :-)

119 points by merraksh 14y ago

To steal a user's comment, finally an article that doesn't include "God particle" in the headline. I was rather disappointed in the CBC.

JonnieCache 14y ago
Still includes it in the article body though. Phys.org sucks. Take your pick from this Atlantic roundup of physics bloggers, some of them directly involved in the experiments, for the real scoop: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2012/07/best-physics-gossips-you-should-be-reading/54123/ http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2012/07/best-physics-g... EDIT: this guy at nature claims " The ATLAS and CMS experiments are each seeing signals between 4.5 and 5 sigma" http://www.nature.com/news/physicists-find-new-particle-but-is-it-the-higgs-1.10932 http://www.nature.com/news/physicists-find-new-particle-but-... With the combination that could put us over the magic 6 sigma point, but that is a political issue apparently.
tokenadult 14y ago
Leon Lederman, who popularized the phrase "God particle" with his book, http://www.amazon.com/The-God-Particle-Universe-Question/dp/0618711686/ http://www.amazon.com/The-God-Particle-Universe-Question/dp/... has some serious street cred as a physicist http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1988/lederman-autobio.html http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/198... and as a promoter science education reform. (I heard him speak on the latter subject in my town at a science museum a few years ago.) I agree with you that a term like that probably needs explanation in a popular article about physics, but I can think of much more harmful terms in popular articles about science.
- SquareWheel 14y ago
  but I can think of much more harmful terms "Evolution? It's just a theory!"

pagejim 14y ago

Here is an easy to understand article about implications of this discovery: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/07/higgs-boson-breaks-physics/ http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/07/higgs-boson-breaks...

midko 14y ago
And here's an animated introductory explanation of the Higgs boson particle http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120501.html http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120501.html

pessimist 14y ago

They have certainly found something that is very close to the Higgs Boson predicted by the standard model of particle physics. How do they know its the Higgs? http://blog.vixra.org/2012/06/24/higgs-discovery-on-the-brink-but-is-it-the-higgs/ http://blog.vixra.org/2012/06/24/higgs-discovery-on-the-brin... There are some intriguing unexpected signals in the data that is public so far: http://blog.vixra.org/2012/06/29/whats-the-deal-with-h-%E2%86%92-ww/ http://blog.vixra.org/2012/06/29/whats-the-deal-with-h-%E2%8...

nilaykumar 14y ago
We don't yet know if whatever we see is or is not the SM Higgs. That's why the LHC is scheduled to continue running through the year, so we can get more details. All we can really say at this point is we see something. Heck, we've been able to say that from December!
jessriedel 14y ago
> How do they know its the Higgs? Woit's comment is a pretty succinct explanation: > The standard model gives very specific predictions for the behavior of the Higgs, which are fixed by the distinctive properties of the Higgs field (spontaneous breaking of the SU(2) gauge symmetry fixes how it interacts with gauge fields, giving mass to fermions fixes its interaction with them). These predictions have for a long long time shown that if the Higgs mass is 125 GeV, it could not be observed until the energies and luminosities of the LHC were available, and then it should be seen with certain specific signal sizes in certain specific decay channels. > What the LHC experiments are seeing is, after decades of no such signal in these and similar channels, signals appearing in just the right channels, with roughly the right signal size. If this isn’t a Higgs, it’s something very like it. http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=4809&cpage=1#comment-115426 http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=4809&cpa...

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

zerostar07 14y ago

It would be more interesting if they did not find it. LHC needs more exciting results to justify its cost.

ThomPete 14y ago
I think that is a general misconception. Each time we increase our understanding of something, we also gain new tools to solve questions. Think of this as long term investments for humanity, then the price is microscopic.
- zerostar07 14y ago
  There is a lot of politics in this. Particle Physics is not the only area where we have unanswered questions or need more tools (but it does have a spectacular track record and influential community behind it).
  - ThomPete 14y ago
    Oh I agree there are many other areas. But no other area than physics have given us so many inventions, because no other area is a fundamental as this. We are playing with as close to universals as we can come here. Just think about the amount of years it took from the inception of QM up to today and how much it has given us in return. Extraordinay returns require extraordinary investments. But yes there is a limit obviously.
- Symmetry 14y ago
  What I think the GP is saying is that its unfortunate that this experiment only confirmed our understanding of physics rather than increasing it. We only learned that our suppositions about QM were correct, there weren't any of the anomalies that have led to new physics in the past. Personally, I'd say that $9B is a fair price to pay for confirmation, but I'd have been happier to get more.
  - adobriyan 14y ago
    Higgs stuff is not the only event happening at LHC.

losethos 14y ago

Let's ask God the highest energy particle, evar! God says... 7:2 Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies. 7:3 Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins. 7:4 Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus. 7:5 Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries. 7:6 How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! 7:7 This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OqlTXwLG40 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OqlTXwLG40 perhaps E.T.? Boo ivory tower :-)