Posted on 07/27/2011 1:31:53 AM PDT by lbryce
Scientists hoping to puzzle out how the Universe began will find a long-sought theoretical particle or rule out that it exists by the end of 2012, the director of the world's largest atom smasher predicted Monday.
Rolf Heuer, director of the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva, said his confidence was based on the latest findings from the $10 billion proton collider under the Swiss-French border.
"I would say we can settle the question, the Shakespearean question 'to be or not to be' end of next year," he told reporters at a major physics conference in Grenoble.
The Higgs boson isn't just any particle. It's the linchpin of the Standard Model of particle physics theory that explains the Big Bang, because it is believed to answer a fundamental question about why matter has mass. The particle itself is thought to give mass to other particles, and thus to objects and creatures in the Universe.
Heuer said these are "exciting times" for particle physicists because of the latest findings among two separate teams of scientists operating the Atlas and CMS detectors at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research near Geneva, that he directs.
Scientists are starting to pinpoint the precise level of high energy where the Higgs boson is expected to be found.
Last year, the collider for the first time threw together two proton beams, tiny particles traveling in opposite directions though a 17-mile (27-kilometer tunnel) at incredible speeds in conditions simulating those 1 trillionth to 2 trillionths of a second after the Big Bang. The crash on a subatomic scale is aimed more at improving our knowledge of how the universe was created than at finding immediate new technology uses to improve our lives.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
I remember when I was close to the god particle,
I had found Ms.Higgs bosom and knew I was close
to nirvana. Slowly, slowly I approached with infinite
caution when there at the very tip of my tongue was the
God particle. Oh GOD, Oh GOD, screamed ms.Higgs as our
very universe seemed to entwine in a cosmic dance as
old as time but as new as tomorrow. The softly lapping
waves cooled our reaction as a new realization, one
never experienced before grew within us.
Mmmmmmmmmm man I’m hungry got any more sprout sanwiches?
Oh come on now! The George Foreman Proton Beam Hamburger Grill didn't improve our lives? What about the Sub-Atomic Hair Restoration Club for Men? That's no chopped liver you know....
Maybe the Higgs Boson is giving you guys the Biggs Hoson but the rest of us would really like to see the Luke Skywalker Instant Irradiated Beer go on the market soon thanks to that big collider thing.
Life was never the same once Bacon Bandages and I crossed paths.
Bacon Bandages.Hmm. Bacon..
How long will it be till some grant proposal writer wants to perform an experiment to find out what this “God particle,” the Higgs boson, is made of. Did St. John nail it in John 1:1? Is it made of love? (Yes, I’m a Christian. I’m serious about that, but I’m being facetious about the scientists.)
Higgs Bosom! I hope they collide with the proton stream!
I’m endlessly entertained by physicists twirling Billion dollar angels about Trillion dollar pinheads. But, I’m not impressed by the arrogance they exhibit when they constantly compare themselves to G*d or they think they can control the weather. Just because you can make a frog’s leg twitch with a battery doesn’t mean you can re-invent life.
There is no "God particle" - it is God Himself that gives mass to the particles.
God is also the "Unified Field" theory that they search for.
God is Love.
God is.
Riddle me this-Who created the Higgs Boson?
What these highly educated billion dollar grant consuming scientists conveniently ignore is that there has to be a First Cause.
Do they plan on “finding” this particle on 12 December or 2012? Just asking . . .
Don't scoff-there were reputable physicists who were concerned that the first A Bomb test would ignite the earth's atmosphere and either roast or suffocate us all. The odds were against it,of course,and the odds are against the black hole as well—but there are STILL odds.
What we call a gamble, God already knows.
The bible would be significantly wrong if the fate of earth was to get swallowed up in a man made black hole within hours of the creation of the hole. More reasoned analysis suggests any man made black hole will be so tiny that it would either fizzle out forthwith in Hawking radiation, or at its subatomic scale find very little that is small enough for it to swallow, and so would just go bopping through the earth while nobody noticed.
Don’t cross the streams.
Why?
It would be bad.
I’m fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing.
Well, they’d better get with the program, because according to the Mayans, times up on the 21st of December next year...IIRC...
Maybe God doesn’t want his particle found??? Did anyone ever think about that...And the Mayan’s are trying to tell us something???
/sarc
I have always wanted to see a Higgs Bosom. :-)
That was informative, and funny as hell.Hey and some nice science chickies too! ( They are great, BTW, very good company.)
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