Large Hadron Collider Rival Tevatron 'Has Found Higgs boson', say Rumours

Telegraph ^ | July 12, 2010 | Tom Chivers

[lbryce]

Tommaso Dorigo, a physicist at the University of Padua, has said in his blog that there has been talk coming out of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, that the Higgs has been discovered.

The Tevatron, the huge particle accelerator at Fermi - the most powerful in the world after the LHC - is expected to be retired when the CERN accelerator becomes fully operational, but may have struck a final blow before it becomes obsolete.

If one form of the rumour is to be believed - and Prof Dorigo is extremely circumspect about it - then it is a "three-sigma" signature, meaning that there is a statistical likelihood of 99.7 per cent that it is correct. But, of course, that is only if the rumour is to be believed.

In the post, titled "Rumors about a light Higgs", Prof Dorigo said: "It reached my ear, from two different, possibly independent sources, that an experiment at the Tevatron is about to release some evidence of a light Higgs boson signal.

"Some say a three-sigma effect, others do not make explicit claims but talk of a unexpected result."

While media attention has been focusing on the LHC, the Tevatron has been quietly plugging away in the search for Higgs. In the 27 years since it was first completed (it has been regularly upgraded since then) it has discovered a quark and observed four different baryons. While it has not been able to pinpoint the elusive Higgs, it has narrowed the search, reducing the window of possible masses where it might be found.

Last year, Fermi physicists said they expected to have enough data to find or rule out the Higgs by early next year, and gave themselves a fifty-fifty chance of finding it before the end of 2010.

[C19fan]

Would be a riot if the “old” Tevatron found the Higgs Boson when the Euros spent billions of dollars building the LHC when one of its primary missios if the find the Higgs.

[lbryce]

So I can expect to have my jetpack, when?

[SnarlinCubBear]

Okay, Where did Higgs lose his Boson?................
:::
And HOW did it end up in Illinois???? Enquiring minds want to know.

[SnarlinCubBear]

Okay, Where did Higgs lose his Boson?................
:::
And HOW did it end up in Illinois???? Enquiring minds want to know.

[Constitution Day]

I would LOVE that. Go USA! :)

[sirchtruth]

Thanks for the definitions!
What does this mean in practical terms - "Give matter mass?"

I'm still bewildered they discovered a particle can be two place at once.

[GonzoGOP]

And HOW did it end up in Illinois???? Enquiring minds want to know.

Blago now admits that he had been using the Tevatron to do his hair.

[I cannot think of a name]

Probably sometime after you drive your electric car to a parking lot where there are small ramps you drive onto that plug into the car and charge the battery while you are gone - at no charge.

Or saying it another way - don't hold your breath. Your great grankids, or great-great grandkids might do so.

[exhaustguy]

Good article in recent Scientific American regarding commercial fusion. Even if the science is figured out, the requisite technologies are not in place (materials science and mechanical engineering are not advanced enough to develop a durable containment vessel). What we would be left with is a short run very expensive toy demonstrating concept with a casing that is radioactive (in other words no advantage over fission).

[C19fan]

The way to think about it is all the forces of nature are “transmitted” by a particle. For example, light is transmitted by a particle called a photon. All matter has mass so in particle physics there must be a particle that gives matter this property. What is called the Standard Theory of Particle Physics which describes three of the four fundamental forces of nature predicts there should be this particle governing mass.

[Yossarian]

They found Higgy-baby?

He was just in the study the whole time, with Zeus and Apollo!

[arthurus]

I caught some of it okay, like “the” and “and” but the rest is a bit thick.

[mikrofon]

Is this the theme of the fourth “Pirates” flick?

(No, that would be “The Search For Higgs’ Bosun”)

[I cannot think of a name]

Yea, I’m sure we’ll never live long enough to see it become practical.

The main reason I’d like to see it happen is that all the oil in the Middle East would instantly be worth about a tenth as much as it is now. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving group of maniacs.

[smokingfrog]

ΣΣΣ   !

[sirchtruth]

What is called the Standard Theory of Particle Physics which describes three of the four fundamental forces of nature predicts there should be this particle governing mass.

Ok, I see. So, if this theory is proven, are there known implications from this already in play?

Furthermore, on another vein, I don't understand this: If a cell is mostly "empty space" why is it objects appear to be solid? What causes this illusion or the cells to bound together?

Thanks for your input.

[Red Badger]

It’s the Chicago Way.................

[C19fan]

I am not sure if there are any practical implications of the current theory in terms of affecting our everyday lives. This is knowledge for knowledge’s sake. The Standard Theory makes predictions about the characteristics of the Higgs so if the “real” Higgs boson has characteristics outside the model then we need a new theory. The reason a cell appears solid is because of electromagnetism. For example, when a baseball hits a bat in the Standard Theory of the universie the two start to exchange photons and it is this exchange the drives the ball away from the bat.

[mvpel]

Higgs Boson: The particle that gives matter mass;

Imagine being able to manipulate mass like we manipulate magnetism or electricity.

Imagine if we could turn a dial and make something that weighs a hundred thousand tons weigh 50 pounds, and float it in the sky with a helium ballon. Imagine an aircraft carrier dangling from a weather balloon.

[mvpel]

Furthermore, on another vein, I don't understand this: If a cell is mostly "empty space" why is it objects appear to be solid? What causes this illusion or the cells to bound together?

Like charges repel one another. Each atom is surrounded by a cloud of electrons, and as these electrons move closer and closer together, they repel one another more and more strongly. That's the simple explanation.