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CERN has announced to the world that they have found a particle that matches a lot of the criteria of the Higgs boson!
CERN Higgs-Like Boson Press Release
CERN is the European Centre for Nuclear Physics Research.
In a nutshell, the Standard Model of Particle Physics was proposed about 50 years ago which tied together many different observations observed in labs around the world. It also made verifiable predictions that experimenters could use to disprove the model, including the existence of particles that had never been seen before, or even suspected to exist.
Over the years after that, more and more results were being produced and no experiment has been able to produce a result that undermines the Standard Model.
For the past few decades, thousands of scientists from over 40 countries have collaborated on a project to verify the existence of the last missing piece to the Standard Model.
The Higgs boson was proposed almost 50 years ago to explain why matter has mass. However, we have never been able to produce proof for this particle.
It was only a matter of time before we zeroed in on it but it is still an extremely important time for the human race.
This is a really good video put together by the author of PhD comics about the Higgs boson.
If you go through the thread, I was Live Reporting the 2 presentations given prior to the public Press Conference. You'll find a lot of information there. Please feel free to post questions and I'm sure someone will be able to answer.
In summary:
The CMS Collaboration reports:
mass of the Higgs-like boson = 125 +/- 0.6 GeV / c^2 at the 5 sigma level.
The Atlas Collaboration reports:
mass of Higgs-like boson ~ 126.5 GeV / c^2 at the 5 sigma level.
This means that independently two groups have a result that might be a statistic error once in 3.5 million times.
Personal Anecdote:
Many years ago, I helped with assembling parts for the ATLAS detector when I did a coop placement at Carleton University in Ottawa so I helped in some small way!
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"hey guys, we accidentally opened a portal to another dimension. you've all played half-life right? yeah, its kinda like that. sorry."
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Announcement: we've created a black hole and the Earth has thirty minutes to live. You heard it here first.
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but does it change the physics we know of?
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oh man this is great and awesome haha <3
welcome thy demons into our dimensions
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On July 04 2012 11:52 GDbushido wrote:
"hey guys, we accidentally opened a portal to another dimension. you've all played half-life right? yeah, its kinda like that. sorry."
You sir, just made this thread epic
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Hey this University of Toronto guy could very be the Bobby Orr of quantum physics! Oh wai-
Jokes aside, I must that after learning about the SP hybridization with the Hund's law and how it determines the properties of each substance on a sub-molecular level, this is piquing my fascination.
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At one point, the atom was considered the basic building block of life. Then further research uncovered subatomic particles such as protons, neutrons and electrons. And still more particles were discovered. But what gave those particles their mass?
In 1964, Peter Higgs suggested a particle, aptly named the Higgs boson, interacted with those particles and gave them mass as they passed through an energy field — in effect, creating mass from nothing. Proving the Higgs boson’s existence could solve the mystery of how the universe was formed.
So scientists did what any curious child might do: smash things together and analyze the mess. In the Large Hadron Collider, a 27-kilometre circular tunnel underneath Geneva, scientists launch beams of protons at each other to create trillions of particle collisions — reproductions of the Big Bang.
The Higgs boson lurks in the aftermath of these collisions, but it’s an extremely rare event.
“It’s like looking for a needle in fields and fields of haystacks,” said Richard Teuscher, another U of T physicist working on the project.
So that people know it has nothing to do with a black hole and how this discovery can affect science.
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someone care to explain to me why this is so important?
-in details- please :D
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heh, im pretty stupid sometimes..
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if we pretty much know it already exists, whats the big deal? you can never "see" it or interact with it, only see the traces of it (afaik).
i guess it's just "official" "proof" that the higgs field exists throughout our universe given all the data they've collected? doesn't change much except our understanding of the universe, which is pretty important i guess ^_^
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On July 04 2012 12:00 xOny wrote:
if we pretty much know it already exists, whats the big deal? you can never "see" it or interact with it, only see the traces of it (afaik).
i guess it's just "official" "proof" that the higgs field exists throughout our universe given all the data they've collected? doesn't change much except our understanding of the universe, which is pretty important i guess ^_^
It is insanely important. I don't think you grasp the entirety of what this can mean to future techonology/science! The discovery of the higgs boson may even develop further into actually being able to control it.
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On July 04 2012 11:55 keyStorm wrote:
but does it change the physics we know of?
the exact opposite, it would confirm the physics we know of. (unfortunately imo..)
On July 04 2012 12:00 xOny wrote:
if we pretty much know it already exists, whats the big deal? you can never "see" it or interact with it, only see the traces of it (afaik).
i guess it's just "official" "proof" that the higgs field exists throughout our universe given all the data they've collected? doesn't change much except our understanding of the universe, which is pretty important i guess ^_^
We predicted that it exists, we don't know that it exists. If we didn't find it, then the standard model would probably have to be altered.
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On July 04 2012 11:59 Wasteweiser wrote:Show nested quote +On July 04 2012 11:57 Xiphos wrote:
Hey this University of Toronto guy could very be the Bobby Orr of quantum physics! Oh wai-
I like your canadian/hockey refrence there :p I'm sure michael jordan would've been better.
But the professor's name is truly, and genuinely 'Bob Orr'. If I've used Michael Jackson instead of the Hockey player, the jokes wouldn't be nearly as humorous.
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On July 04 2012 12:00 xOny wrote:
if we pretty much know it already exists, whats the big deal? you can never "see" it or interact with it, only see the traces of it (afaik).
i guess it's just "official" "proof" that the higgs field exists throughout our universe given all the data they've collected? doesn't change much except our understanding of the universe, which is pretty important i guess ^_^
We don't "pretty much know" it exist until we have physical evidence for it.
Looks like CERN has finished their time machine and is now planning on making an announcement that the world is theirs to conquer.
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So from what little I know and understand, it seems we're about to confirm that there is some "essence" that exists in all atoms, the tiniest of tiniest particles, that gives the energy of the atom its appropriate mass. Or something like that. To have any sort of image or understanding of such a fundamental component to matter's existence seems like a pretty spectacular thing. Yay science!
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
On July 04 2012 12:04 FragKrag wrote:Show nested quote +On July 04 2012 11:55 keyStorm wrote:
but does it change the physics we know of?
the exact opposite, it would confirm the physics we know of. (unfortunately imo..) Heh, it's kind of funny that getting a negative answer to the existence of the Higgs is many more times interesting than a positive answer.
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this is more important than the discovery of the electron. this is the discovery of a particle that causes particles to have MASS
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I'm in awe of the gravity of this announcement.
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It does a few things.
First off, it is the product of collaboration between thousands of scientists from 40+ countries for over a generation. That in itself, is an amazing achievement for the human experience.
Next, by working out the energy at which it has been found, it puts strong limits on many different physical models. This will give researchers and theorists constraints under which to work with for 'Physics Beyond the Standard Model'.
Finally, it was the only missing particle whose existence had been predicted by the Standard Model. The Standard Model is among the most robust Theories that Physics has produced and the Higgs particle is what we use to explain why matter has mass. Not being able to find it means, that our picture of the universe was not complete.
Remember, the Standard Model is about 50 years old. The Higgs Particle was proposed about 48 years ago.
This shows to the world that although we will never know Absolute Truth, we can make reasonable guesses. These guesses are not merely just 'theories' as some people want to believe. Based upon our Theories, we are able to make verifiable predictions, even if it takes 50 years to do so.
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EPT
