GodParticle
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CERN release preliminary results: particle looking 'more and more like a Higgs boson'
CERN's latest update to its elementary particle project states the new particle that it was able to pick up is behaving "more and more like a Higgs boson." The team isn't being particularly specific here, as its not certain just yet whether it's detected a 'standard model' particle or the lightest of several possible bosons predicted in other spin-off theories. Researchers are referencing the interactions of the particle (particularly its spin, or lack off) as the main reason why they reckon they're dealing with a genuine Higgs boson and work will now focus on exactly what kind of boson they've managed to snag.
CERN: 'Don't believe the Higgs-Boson hype' (update: not yet)
CERN is pouring cold water on the rumor it's gonna announce the discovery of the Higgs at today's seminar in Zurich. For the uninitiated: the Higgs-Boson is the particle that is believed to give all things mass: it surrounds us, penetrates us and binds the galaxy together. The scuttlebutt is that the ATLAS sensor picked up a Higgs with a mass of 125GeV (gigaelectronvolts) and rated at three-point-five-sigma -- a one sigma barely warrants a mention, a five-sigma is a bona-fide scientific discovery. CERN hasn't confirmed or denied anything, claiming it's still got five inverse femtobarns worth of data (roughly 5 x 70 x 10^12 of individual collisions) to examine before it can be sure, so just chuck the one bottle of champagne into the refrigerator -- better to be safe, eh? Update: Looks like we don't need to bust out the bubbly, after all. The conclusion from the two-hour presentation is that the ATLAS detector has been able to narrow down the region it believes the Higgs is in to 115.5GeV to 131GeV and that any discovery so-far only has a rating of two point three sigma. The CMS is similarly inconclusive, with results bobbing around the two sigma region. In short, whilst they know where they should look, they haven't been able to find one -- yet.
Large Hadron Collider smashes beam intensity record, inches closer to discovering God particle
Already a record holder for mashing protons together at 7 TeV (trillion electron volts), the Large Hadron Collider can now add world's brightest beam to its list of accomplishments. Beam intensity is a way of measuring the number of collisions in its 17-mile-long track, and a higher intensity means more impacts -- which, in turn, means more data, increasing the likelihood that the elusive Higgs boson will rear its head (should such a thing exist). The LHC smashed the previous luminosity record set last year by the Tevatron collider. What's next for the CERN team, with two world records under its belt? Largest beard of bees.
Has the Higgs Boson been discovered by LHC rival? Are we still here? (Update: No Higgs discovery, and we're still here)
The Large Hadron Collider isn't the only bad boy on the block looking for the so-called God particle -- technically known as the Higgs Boson. A lesser known facility, the Tevatron -- located at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois -- has also been furiously searching for the particle which would help to explain the origins of mass in the universe -- and it looks like they might have found it. A rumor has been swirling about recently that the found particle is a "three-sigma," meaning that it's got a 99.7 percent statistical likelihood of being correct -- but the lab itself has yet to confirm or deny. The Tevatron, which was completed 27 years ago, is the second largest accelerator in the world (after the LHC) and it's expected to be retired once the CERN facility is fully operational. Update: Well, that was fun for the few hours that it lasted. New Scientist has published a piece confirming that Tevatron is in fact denying the rumor, and no Higgs Boson discovery has gone down.
LHCsound brings the noise, asks how low Higgs boson can go
God particle. The Champagne bottle boson. Non-existon. Mysteron. The Higgs boson particle is certainly known by a lot of names, and now we can add another to the list: rock god. The UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council has created "LHCsound: the sound of science." It's a series of (confusingly organized) pages offering acoustic renditions of the Large Hadron Collider's greatest hits, like proton collision, detector sweeps, and, our favorite, simulated Higgs Boson delay, which you can hear after the break. The data created by the energy and frequency of particle decay is used to modify the sound of running water, resulting in a generally creepy effect. We think it'd be perfect for accompanying your next foggy exploration of Silent Hill, but perhaps the next episode of Half Life 2 would be more appropriate.[Thanks, John C.]
