Higgs boson buzz hits new heights

CraigV · **Posted:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 9:23 am

Has the Higgs boson finally been detected? It's almost gotten to the point that if a discovery of some sort doesn't come out of next week's update on the multibillion-dollar subatomic search, it'll be a big surprise. But how far will the announcement go, and what will it mean for the future of physics?

To refresh your memory, the Higgs boson is the only fundamental subatomic particle predicted by theory but not yet detected. It's thought to play a role in endowing some particles, such as the W and Z boson, with mass ... while leaving other particles, such as the photon, massless. The Higgs mechanism, proposed by British physicist Peter Higgs and others in the 1960s, could have played a role in electroweak symmetry breaking, which was a key event in the rise of the universe as we know it.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20 ... ights?lite

Timelord · **Posted:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 9:55 am

We have till Wednesday July 4th to wait to find out if CERN truly did discover the "god particle".

Quote:

Geneva, 22 June 2012. CERN1 will hold a scientific seminar at 9:00CEST on 4 July to deliver the latest update in the search for the Higgs boson. At this seminar, coming on the eve of this year’s major particle physics conference, ICHEP, in Melbourne, the ATLAS and CMS experiments will deliver the preliminary results of their 2012 data analysis.

“Data taking for ICHEP concluded on Monday 18 June after a very successful first period of LHC running in 2012,” said CERN’s Director for Accelerators and Technology, Steve Myers. “I’m very much looking forward to seeing what the data reveals.”

If and when a new particle is discovered, ATLAS and CMS will need time to ascertain whether it is the long sought Higgs boson, the last missing ingredient of the Standard Model of particle physics, or whether it is a more exotic form of the boson that could open the door to new physics.

“It’s a bit like spotting a familiar face from afar,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer, “sometimes you need closer inspection to find out whether it’s really your best friend, or actually your best friend’s twin.”

BULL · **Posted:** Sat Jul 28, 2012 9:29 pm

So here's the deal, whether or not I'm an idiot is debatable.... :roll:

I have at least a basic understanding of the "standard model", yet the other day I watched a physicist try to explain this thing, and I have to say, I got absolutely NOTHING out of ANYTHING he said. In fact, either he was COMPLETELY full of "poop" or I am seriously stupid...

Anybody here able to give a concise, accurate explanation of what the hell this thing is? I almost had it from what is posted up on Wikipedia, but then conceptually lost it....

$:\$

Timelord · **Posted:** Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:09 am

Yeah... They keep saying it is what gives things mass don't they? If that were the case then why has it been so hard to find? You'd think it would be everywhere all the time not something that blinks into existence and then out again in a billionth-trillionth of a second.
Astrophysics is one of those things that I have a hard time wrapping my head around sometimes. I get dizzy.

BULL · **Posted:** Mon Jul 30, 2012 11:21 am

How do you "give" something mass???

Maybe, as long as we're making $%^& up, one of the rules of existence is that as soon as we truly find and understand this, we all blink out of existence at that very moment....

:braindead:

Timelord · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2012 4:57 am

Some say that has happened once already! I think it was the mice or the dolphins.

Higgs boson buzz hits new heights

Who is online