Posted on 07/04/2012 7:20:50 AM PDT by James C. Bennett
GENEVA: Scientists at Europe's CERN research center have found a new subatomic particle, a basic building block of the universe, which appears to be the boson imagined and named half a century ago by theoretical physicist Peter Higgs.
"We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature," CERN director general Rolf Heuer told a gathering of scientists and the world's media near Geneva on Wednesday.
"The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger statistics, which will pin down the new particle's properties, and is likely to shed light on other mysteries of our universe."
Two independent studies of data produced by smashing proton particles together at CERN's Large Hadron Collider produced a convergent near-certainty on the existence of the new particle. It is unclear whether it is exactly the boson Higgs described.
But addressing scientists assembled in the CERN auditorium, Heuer posed them a question: "As a layman, I would say I think we have it. Would you agree?" A roar of applause said they did.
Higgs, now 83, from Edinburgh University was among six theorists who proposed the existence of a mechanism by which matter in the universe gained mass. Higgs himself argued that if there were an invisible field responsible for the process, it must be made up of particles. The particle is the emissary of the field and proves its existence.
He and others were at CERN to welcome news of what, to the embarrassment of many scientists, some commentators have labeled the "God particle" for its role in turning the Big Bang into a living universe: Clearly overwhelmed, his eyes welling up, Higgs told the symposium of fellow researchers: "It is an incredible thing that it has happened in my lifetime."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Boson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boson
In particle physics, bosons are one of the two fundamental classes of subatomic particles, the other being fermions.
Bosons are characterized by their obedience to Bose–Einstein statistics. This class of particles includes photons and gluons, as well as the Higgs boson.
The name boson is derived from the surname of the Indian physicist, Satyendra Nath Bose, a contemporary of the German physicist Albert Einstein.
Paging John Titor....
But who created the boson? When someone proves 0x0 equals something other than 0, then things will really get interesting.
Gawd I love bosons.
I’m not going to pretend to know or understand the details, but I think this discovery, if it holds up, has huge implications for the validity of superstring theory.
LOL!
That type of thinking can stretch to infinity. Somewhere along the line 'something' had to have been here since the beginning, if there even was a beginning.
The search begins for its corresponding anti-particle — the boson’s mate, as it were...
And that something would also need a reference point for it to be able to begin anything... so it truly would stretch to infinity. In other words, the infinite regress.
Does Sheldon Cooper agree?
So, after playing with the theory of atoms for almost two hundred years, they think they have actually found something that is indivisible?
“The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger statistics...” And larger grants of free money from the USA.
“The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger statistics...” And larger grants of free money from the USA.
Ahh yes...but a very uncertain future awaits, so it would seem...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/14/us-china-bo-guagua-idUSBRE83C1JF20120414
I practical and applied terms, where can this lead us?
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For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen...
...Being understood from what has been made,
.... so that people are without excuse.
--Romans 1:20 (NIV)
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God bless...
It’s all probably a vast waste of time and resources.
Mans wisdom is foolishness to G_d. (paraphrase)
Who knows though? Surely not me.
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