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Particle physics is at a turning point [ Higgs boson and String Theory ]
Nature: World View ^ | Friday, December 16, 2011 | Gordon Kane

Posted on 12/17/2011 5:02:41 PM PST by SunkenCiv

...The properties and mass of the LHC's Higgs boson suggest that physicists will soon find superpartners for particles, and that we have begun to connect string theory to the real world...

Physicists thought that a Higgs boson, when discovered, would take this supersymmetric form, so how have we discovered one so apparently identical to the impossible standard-model version? Working out how to interpret this could be a large step towards the underlying broader theory that will extend the standard model.

One explanation could come from an unexpected source: string theory or its extension, M-theory. Contrary to what you may have heard, predictions about the real world can be made from string theory...

My collaborators and I have shown that in generic string and M-theories -- consistent with constraints from cosmology and incorporating the Higgs mechanism for generating mass -- the lightest Higgs boson behaves very much like the standard-model Higgs boson. And it has a mass of about 125 GeV, just as observed...

The same string theory (actually M-theory) that predicts the Higgs mass correctly also predicts that a spectrum of superpartners and some of their associated signals should now be discovered at the LHC. Particles such as gluinos -- superpartners to gluons, which mediate the strong force -- have not yet been searched for explicitly in the decay modes predicted by the string theories, mainly decay to top and bottom quarks. They could be found in these modes by the middle of next year. If so, the discovery may have a lower profile than the news of the Higgs boson, but the implications could be even greater. String theory could have come of age at last.

(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: gluinos; gluons; gordonkane; higgsboson; lhc; stringtheory
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To: Noumenon

it’s amazing to read scientific theories, postulations, etc, read about Einstien, Newton, and other super intelligent people, view the universe through their eyes and through the Hubble telescope, and then declare that there is no God....amazing


21 posted on 12/17/2011 7:37:34 PM PST by terycarl (lurking, but well informed)
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To: terycarl

One has to ask - do these physicists and cosmologists truly believe that the universe is nothing more than the empty dance of atoms?


22 posted on 12/17/2011 9:52:56 PM PST by Noumenon ("I tell you, gentlemen, we have a problem on our hands." Col. Nicholson-The Bridge on the River Qwai)
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To: SunkenCiv

These people need to get with the program.

What we call “gravity” is a LOCAL PHENOMENA akin to the “surface tension” effect we see in water, except it’s acting in 3-D, not 2-D.

http://pra.aps.org/abstract/PRA/v39/i5/p2333_1


23 posted on 12/17/2011 10:01:08 PM PST by djf (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2801220/posts)
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To: SunkenCiv

I have no love for eggheaded navel gazers who imagine multiple dimensions, and dream of invisible particles that dance on imaginary strings.

Ping me when these tax dollar sucking academics come up with an honest advancement in our understanding of the physical universe that leads to some practical applications in the real world.


24 posted on 12/17/2011 11:07:38 PM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Windflier

I didn’t ping you in the first place, but nice try.


25 posted on 12/18/2011 8:21:30 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! May 2013 be even Happier!)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day — Hints of Higgs from the Large Hadron Collider
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2821990/posts


26 posted on 12/18/2011 8:21:39 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! May 2013 be even Happier!)
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

Thanks! I also have a link up there, regarding how the Higgs’ masses preferred in various versions of the Standard Model had been ruled out before the LHC fired up.

Hey, that’s a lot packed into a small wikipage! :’)


27 posted on 12/18/2011 8:27:20 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! May 2013 be even Happier!)
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To: TBP

Thanks TBP!


28 posted on 12/18/2011 8:32:23 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! May 2013 be even Happier!)
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To: Bobalu; garjog

Ooh, these are keepers.


29 posted on 12/18/2011 8:32:24 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! May 2013 be even Happier!)
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To: djf

Nothin’ new there, as Einstein said, gravity is caused by gravity. :’)


30 posted on 12/18/2011 8:33:11 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! May 2013 be even Happier!)
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To: terycarl
it’s amazing to read scientific theories, postulations, etc, read about Einstien, Newton, and other super intelligent people, view the universe through their eyes and through the Hubble telescope, and then declare that there is no God....amazing

I agree, and then there is a thread like this, dominated by knuckledraggers who show up to criticize what they don't understand and what seems strange to them. The workings of the Universe may seem counterintuitive, but it's because God created it that way.

Planck and Einsten came up with the quantum because of observed blackbody radiation and the photoelectric effect. The Higg's boson was theorized to explain certain types of rest mass. In some cases the observations came first, and in others predictions came first, but they all end up observationally confirmed. It's a strange but awesome Universe. The strangest thing about the Universe is that it can be comprehended at all.

31 posted on 12/18/2011 8:51:53 AM PST by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Never saw that quote. If you have a citation, I’d love to see it.

Einsteins ideas, afaik amount to the following:

GRAVITY=SPACE=GEOMETRY

He didn’t really talk about cause, his results dealt more with observable and theoretical effects based on thought experiments.

His ideas amount to saying that you can nail a picture to the wall without ever saying anything at all about what the nail really truly is, what is the essence of being a nail.

No one can fault Einstein for his view. At the same time, no one can deny that the theory is made more whole by the extensions of Kaluza-Klein and basic quantum evidence.

As it seems to be turning out, his theory might some day be seen as pretty much a good approximation, on par with Newtons ideas.

And in one of the strangest twists in scientific history, I think we will discover that if you take Newton and toss in a little Planck, season well with a bit of Maxwell, you will end up with something better than Einstein.


32 posted on 12/18/2011 9:07:47 AM PST by djf (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2801220/posts)
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To: SunkenCiv
I didn’t ping you in the first place, but nice try.

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize this was a private thread. My apologies.

33 posted on 12/18/2011 12:34:46 PM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: the invisib1e hand
crikey, they can’t even spell “bosom” right.

With errors like that, it's no wonder they can't spell "hardon" either. (What do you think "SHC" stands for anyway? It's so ghey.)

Cheers!

34 posted on 12/18/2011 5:23:48 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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