Top Quark Measurements Give ‘God Particle’ New Lease on Life

University of Rochester ^ | 09 June 2004 | Staff

[PatrickHenry]

The search for the Higgs continues ...

[PatrickHenry]

Science list ping (a subset of the evolution list). FReepmail me to be added or dropped.

[VadeRetro]

Oct 18, 2012

Hag Hogs Higgs

President Hillary Clinton claimed personal credit today for the discovery of the Higgs boson ...

[Servant of the 9]

The search for the Higgs continues ...

It was at my house eating chicken and dumplings last weekend.
Everyone definitely ended up more massive, so we're sure it was Higgs.

So9

[randog]

...answering one of science’s great conundrums—what gives mass, mass?

A yet-to-be-discovered particle that I shall dub RosieOdonnelium.

[Doctor Stochastic]

There's no Top Quark really. Quarks belong to an autonomous hadronic commune.

[Clint Williams]

LOL!

[Pontiac]

President Hillary Clinton claimed personal credit today for the discovery of the Higgs boson ...

She will share the Nobel Prize for Physics with Al Gore the inventor of Atom Smasher.

[Shryke]

Hag Hogs Higgs

Haha, VR wins the day! Brilliant.

You must hace cheated, that's too funny. Hrmph.

[betty boop]

Yee-Hah Patrick! Bookmarked.

[Doctor Stochastic]

I met Higgs about 20 years ago (at the University of Edinburgh) but I don't think that naming the particle the "Higgis" would be a good idea.

[longshadow]

"...of the dark matter that comprises 90 percent of the universe."

The article is slightly misleading here; the Universe is not 90% dark matter. What they mean to say is that of the matter that exists in the Universe, 90% of THAT is dark matter.

The latest figures for composition of the Universe are something like 4% ordinary matter, 21% dark matter, and about 75% dark energy. Matter of all types accounts for only about a quarter of the total composition.

</ nit-picking mode>

[Consort]

...what gives mass, mass?

Points, lines, angles, surfaces, and completing curves....causal units, portal units, form units, and structure units....aerogen, pyrogen, geogen, and fluogen....on-ness, in-ness, through-ness, and presence....and other stuff, including fuddle.

[jennyp]

...the Universe is not 90% dark matter. What they mean to say is that of the matter that exists in the Universe, 90% of THAT is dark matter.

The latest figures for composition of the Universe are something like 4% ordinary matter, 21% dark matter, and about 75% dark energy.

Hmmm... but 21%/25% is 84%. So I guess you're both wrong.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Hags Hogs Higgs

President Hillary Clinton claimed personal credit today for the discovery of the Higgs boson ...

LOL!

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

Hmmm. I'm a bit confused by this journalist's description of the Fermilab collisions. The article says that "When the accelerator smashes a quark and an anti-quark together, a top quark and an anti-top quark are occasionally created..." It was my understanding that free-standing quarks could not be created or observed; the amount of energy necessary to drag a quark out of another particle (due to the Strong force) would be enough to create another quark, so efforts to "liberate" quarks simply result in another composite particle. Did I miss something major, and do they actually have a collider that will accelerate and smash quarks? This has got to be journalist error...

[Physicist]

Well, the article isn't inaccurate; the quark and antiquark that collide actually reside in a proton and antiproton, respectively, at the time of the collision. That is to say, the accelerator collides a proton with an antiproton, but the actual quantum event that generates the top pair is an interaction between two of the pointlike constituent particles. The other constituent particles are just along for the ride, and are often referred to as "spectator" quarks.

The top and antitop quarks do not form hadrons, not through any mechanism that prevents their confinement, but by virtue of the fact that they decay so quickly. They decay in a time that is very short compared to the time it takes to form the hadrons.

[PatrickHenry]

I'm delighted that Physicist responded to your question to which you pinged him and me; however, let the record be clear: I had no clue as to how to answer your question.

[longshadow]

I had no clue as to how to answer your question.

Admit it; you think "hadrons" come from an ancient wall in England....

;-)

[PatrickHenry]

Admit it; you think "hadrons" come from an ancient wall in England....

Actually, I thought that's what they call the tormented inhabitants of the underworld.