American Accelerator's Last Hurrah: 99.8% Certainty God Particle is Found

Daily Tech ^ | July 3, 2012 7:58 PM | Jason Mick (Blog)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Tevatron presents strong evidence Higgs boson was observed, but LHC needed to provide final verification

Tomorrow, while America celebrates July 4, mankind worldwide may celebrate a separate momentous event -- the discovery of the legendary Higgs boson.

I. Riding Into the Sunset -- Tevatron Goes Out With a Bang

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) will tomorrow hold a special press conference at 9 a.m.  The event will provide an update to the world on the progress in the search for the critical particle using the Large Hadron Collider, the largest and most expensive laboratory apparatus in history.  Many physicists expect evidence supporting the existence of the Higgs boson to be presented.

On the eve of that event the U.S. Department of Energy's FermiLab, has published information that strongly hints at the existence of the Higgs boson, but stops short of providing explicit proof of its existence.

The data comes courtesy of Tevatron, a smaller accelerator 4 miles in circumference.  Located on the FermiLab grounds just east of Batavia, Ill., Tevatron was long the world's most powerful accelerator.  Its tests actually wrapped up last year, before the accelerator was permanently shut down, after the U.S. decided being a world leader in scientific research was no longer among its spending priorities.

But Tevatron's last hurrah has offered a tantalize tease of what lies ahead with the LHC.  Taking 10 years worth of data involving approximately 500 trillion particle collisions, the FermiLab teams offered up signs of elusive particle.

_{The Tevatron's greatest legacy may be in finding the first evidence of the Higgs boson.
[Source: FermiLab]}

States Rob Roser a spokesman for one of the two Tevatron experiments, "Our data strongly point toward the existence of the Higgs boson.  But it will take results from the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider in Europe to establish a discovery."

The Tevatron was able to determine with relative accuracy that the particle it observed was a Higgs boson.  But the 1-in-550 chance that the finding was a statistical fluke (99.8 percent level of certainty) was unacceptably high in the laser-precise world of particle physics -- hence the LHC's firepower is necessary.

The LHC is better equipped to find the Higgs boson, with its higher beam energy, longer 17 mi. (circumference) track, and state-of-the-art detection gear.

II. Why the Higgs Boson Matters

The Higgs boson is the only fundamental subatomic particle predicted by the Standard Model that has yet to be observed.

But it is not mere novelty that drives researchers to observe this particular particle, one must understand the Standard Model of particle physics.  This pillar of physics theory predicts that the Higgs boson gives rise to the so-called Higgs mechanism, a sort of "sticky field" that coats particles like a spoon dipping through a jar of honey.  This "sticky" effect is thought to give protons, neutrons, and electrons -- the building blocks of matter that most of us are familiar with -- their mass.

Unfortunately the Higgs boson needs very high beam energy and luminosity in order to be provide enough mass and conditions favorable to a Higgs boson.  The Higgs boson is predicted to be less that 1.4 TeV, if the Standard Model is correct.

If the Higgs boson or similar electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism are not found to give the subatomic particles their mass, then it will be an intriguing open season for new theories.  But if the Higgs boson is observed, mankind will be content in knowing that we have quantified yet another facet of reality as we know it.

Nobel Prize laureate Leon Lederman popularized the hunt for the Higgs boson in his book "The God Particle", which chronicled his work hunting for the particle at FermiLab.  Professor Lederman originally intended the title to be "The Goddamn Particle" -- an expression of his frustration at the difficult observing it.  The title was subsequently shortened and the phrase "God particle" stuck as a colloquialism for the complex theoretical particle.

_{A Nobel prize winner nicknamed the Higgs boson the "God particle", a less cheeky shortening of his longer name for it -- the "Goddamn particle". [Image Source: Gandee Vasan/Getty Images]}

The latest results from his lab do little to end the frustration, but they do provide indication that a Higgs boson's mass would be between 115 and 135 GeV -- about 130 times the mass of the proton.

Now all that remains is to see what exactly the LHC has gleaned within that band of energies.

Was the Tevatron's blip, unlikely as it may be, a mere stastical fluctuation, or was it the first observation of the God particle?  The data from the LHC should offer evidence towards which possibility is true.

Sources: FermiLab, CERN

[evets]

(Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.)

[HiTech RedNeck]

Will the summoned Higgs boson fill the accelerator with smoke and demand to be worshiped???

I’m having a little trouble understanding what’s being claimed about the Higgs. Is the Higgs boson supposed to be omnipresent and lend its qualities to all lesser particles?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Excellent Addition....THANKS!

[agere_contra]

Alas: the Higgs Boson may be a vital component of the physical universe but it turns out that it can’t forgive sin.

[Conan the Librarian]

The way I understand it, Yes, Higgs does give properties to the other particles that they don’t have in them themselves.

Check the Wikipedia article or find the book called “Massive” by Ian Sample.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thats seem to be what this article is saying as I read it.

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The Higgs boson is the only fundamental subatomic particle predicted by the Standard Model that has yet to be observed.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Ernest. I'll probably stop pinging new topics about this after this one.

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[HamiltonJay]

Higs Bosson if it is proven is what gives ALL matter its MASS.. pretty damned big deal.

Simplest explination that I have seen and understood is that there is an everpresent higgs bosson field, that everything travels through, and partilces Stick to this field in varing degrees.. this “STICK” is effectively MASS.. the more it sticks to the HIGGS BOSSON field the more mass it has.

For example, a PHOTON has no mass, so it flows through the ever present higgs bosson field with no “resistance”. A Proton however, does have mass, so as it moves through this ever present field it is resisted by the higgs bosson field, and that resistence, gives its mass.

I am not a particle or theoretical physicist, nor do I play one on TV, but that’s what this is all about. WHAT AND HOW MASS exists.

[BenLurkin]

[BenLurkin]

BUMP!

[HiTech RedNeck]

Ain’t it funny, about a century after the “ether” went by the boards, because it was not possible to sense the effects of traveling through it on moving objects like the earth, now we’re talking about this humongous omnipresent crush of Higgs bosons, which does most of what the hypothesized ether was supposed to do, and then some.

[Reily]

“....world leader in scientific research was no longer among its spending priorities.....”

any other “world leadership positions” this admininstration parepared to give up?

[agere_contra]

You know, that is an excellent point.

[UCANSEE2]

I’m having a little trouble understanding what’s being claimed about the Higgs. Is the Higgs boson supposed to be omnipresent and lend its qualities to all lesser particles?

The Higgs boson is claimed to be the particle that gives all other particles their 'mass'.

The 'god particle' reference came from the title of the book, which was used only because the publishing house wouldn't allow the author to use the title, 'The goddamn particle'. (meaning it is so elusive, so expensive, and so frustrating).

Other choices for the title of the book were... The EX-WIFE particle, and the OBAMA ADMINISTRATION particle.

Hope that helps.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

OK....Guess we do have a few threads.....

I like the one you posted:

Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Higgs Boson Explained by Cartoon

[UCANSEE2]

any other “world leadership positions” this admininstration parepared to give up?

Space exploration, Manufacturing Industry, Military Power, Education, Good Health Care.

[jagusafr]

...but in this case, it just reminds me that a Radio Television Film degree kept me from having to learn real science - to my shame.

[newheart]

Will the summoned Higgs boson fill the accelerator with smoke and demand to be worshiped???

Particles, like so many things are sometimes named after their discoverer. In this case a guy named Peter Higgs. I guess calling it the 'god particle' makes for an accidental reference to the particle's creator, as opposed to its discoverer.

[HamiltonJay]

Actually its called the “GOD PARTICLE” because a scientist at FERMILABS wrote a book about his attemps to discover the particle, his actual intended name for the book was “The Goddamn Particle” because it was so impossible to observe.. but the name was later shortened for publication.

So the book was published as the “God Particle” and from there the name stuck.. It has nothing to do with religion or God.