Collider sees hint of elusive particle's existence

The world's largest superconducting solenoid magnet at the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator in Geneva.

/ Getty Images

Scientists on Friday raised the possibility that proton-smashing experiments carried out at the Large Hadron Collider may have broken important new ground in their pursuit of one of the most elusive particles in the universe, the Higgs boson.

But careful not to get too far ahead of themselves, the researchers described their findings only as "excess events." They made their announcements at the biannual Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics taking place this week in Grenoble, France.

The researchers said that they detected what could be the first indication of the existence of the Higgs particle, which is believed to imbue more conventional matter with mass. But physicists are still unclear whether this marks another big tease or constitutes a breakthrough event.

The search for Higgs
How to find the Higgs particle

The experiments conducted at the European particle-physics laboratory near Geneva turned up a surprise reading in a range which might indicate the presence of the Higgs particle. The experiments involve smashing protons at close to the speed of light inside an underground 27-kilometer-long ring. Detectors situated along the length of the track have been searching for evidence of the Higgs as well as other new particles.

The two biggest detectors, called ATLAS and CMS, turned up "slightly more particles that look like Higgs than they would expect if it didn't exist" at different mass ranges. That created a stir and as the news filtered out, physicists expressed excitement, even though they were still unsure what to make of it. Speaking with Nature, for instance, Matthew Strassler, a theoretical physicist at Rutgers University in New Jersey summed it up by calling the announcement "tantalizing."

Tantalizing but because the findings remain short of a full-fledged discovery - at least for now - it will likely take more months of sifting evidence before researchers really know what they have.

[-Skirt-]

Most of you seem to think this machine is a waste. Do you feel the shuttle was a waste... what about the Hubble? Did you know the James West telescope is way over budget and is most likely going to be scrapped?

The LHC is not a waste. The EU will now, and for some time to come, lead the world in particle physics research.

I guess the EU, Russia, and China will have to lead in Space exploration too.

The USA's dominance in science is past. Why? I believe it is because we have lost the ability to manage financial matters. The JW telescope is way over budget because our gov't sucks at budgeting.

Our gov't workers believe they should earn so much above the private sector average, and receive a fat pension, that they can, and do, live like overlords. And since the collective bargaining rights extended to gov't workers allows them to lobby themselves for ever increasing pay packages, you private sector workers can pound sand. (remember, the gov't worker is the gov't, and they lobby the gov't for more and more and more...)

The most ironic thing about this is that the gov't worker is oblivious to who funds gov't. The private sector, thru taxes, funds your greedy, lazy, short sighted assses.

So the space shuttle program is canceled.
The JW telescope aint gunna happen.
No funding for particle physics apparatus.

Not many of you, who think the LHC is a waste, realize the correlation between a country's dominance in science and global power.

When the USA is conquered, or crumbles from within, you might get it... but I doubt it.

The first step toward our redemption is money management. almost 15T in debt... but i digress.

[Toddwest]

The Virtual Self foretold in the Book Of Divinity rely on this type of science. Definitely not a waste..... Definitely the US IS a waste. Weapons of endless war, largest prisons in the world, prosecuting people for using and growing plants. yeah, eventually a nation that is all about that collapses, and you can see it happening with your own eyes. Time to go back to school.....

[oldman67]

What a total waste of money!

[JRC_903]

Yeah.. back when they were studying simple ELECTRONS--- many people said the same thing. In someways we should have listened to them. The millions of things that resulted from the study of how electrons interact with other mater has ONLY complicated the sh_t out of life. I bet the study of the boson will have similar negative consequences.

[JRC_903]

If human beings had been intended to think==GOD would have given them brains.

[AnnieDanny]

"Tantalizing" is what you could call this article. The scientists think maybe, possibly, they MIGHT have something but wait a few months until they sift through data and perhaps they MIGHT have something significant to say by then.

And the fact that they might have something to say in a few months is... exciting?

And... how much DATA do they have to sift when the particle they're looking for is smaller than an atom? How much data is this teensy weensy particle capable of producing?

Sometimes I wonder if this Collider thing is a buncha BS.

[m0u5y]

I wonder if this could be converted to an EMP device.

[Toddwest]

Yes, the US Government is experimenting with such now to control the population in the upcoming revolution.

[anadish]

No collision 'on earth' can bring out Higgs. I literally mean 'on earth', because these are not the condition which can take us back to the so-called big bang. Further, Higgs is theory. In practice gravity is due to particles whose spin is of course 0, but the rest is not so definitive as being thought in the SM.

[erasmus111]

Stop! Before you make us all disappear! : )

[erasmus111]

by louiville12 July 22, 2011 8:10 PM EDT
I would guess if you lived 100+ years ago when scientist were sure that a humans blood would begin to boil if autos were allowed to go over 28 MPH. You would have been on the front lines demanding cars to be limited to 27 MPH, right?


That is the most silliest thing I have ever heard.