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The LHC (again)

Dr. TimoDr. Timo
edited December 2011 in Science
Soo, if you're a physicist you definitely know about monday's press conference and seminar at CERN. If you're not here are a couple of links: one from Nature and one from a very good siciene blog Cosmic Variance that explain a bit about what's going down.

The tl;dr version is: Nothing much, but a very interesting nothing much.

I was at a big particle physics conference this summer and the general consensus was that if CERN has a joint ATLAS/CMS press seminar before chistmas, it will be because they found the Higgs. Well, the rumor I hear is they heven't but that there are tiny signals around 126GeV.

My guesstimate is they'll announce ~3.2 sigma deviation, but wont call it more than a hint as the possible existence of the Higgs.

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Comments

  • DromaroDromaro
    Link to the Nature article looks like a dead end.

    This is enticing! I don't follow this too closely and I'm definitely not a physicist but I'd read some things that some people are beginning to doubt the existence of the Higgs. I personally don't think so but it's good to see some critical dissent in the ranks.
  • Linkigi(Link-ee-jee)Linkigi(Link-ee-jee)
    Nature
    Fixed. In-tag spelling errors are probably our best argument for why we should have html buttons.
  • Dr. TimoDr. Timo
    edited December 2011
    Nature
    Fixed. In-tag spelling errors are probably our best argument for why we should have html buttons.
    This is why we shoud be able to edit posts indefinitely.

    Or, one could just check that all the links work immediately after posting.
    Post edited by Dr. Timo on
  • Dr. TimoDr. Timo
    The link to the webcast starting in six and a half hours. Some info on the event.
  • DromaroDromaro
    For once, being an insomniac will yield something AWESOME. Namely, the ability to watch this.
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    edited December 2011
    Glimpsed. Glimpses are better than nothing.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16158374
    Post edited by Luke Burrage on
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    Scientists discovered today that the Higgs Boson is camera shy, more at 11.
  • Dr. TimoDr. Timo
    edited December 2011
    It was quite an interesting conference, and you could see they really, really liked those three (four?) extra events in the ZZ->llll channel.

    Anyway here(pdf) is the paper by Higgs from 1964 if anyone is interested to see what it takes to get a Nobel prize ;-).
    Post edited by Dr. Timo on
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    That's a very short paper!
  • 2bfree2bfree
    My fist is searching for whoever started the whole Higgs Boson = "God Particle" media habit.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    My fist is searching for whoever started the whole Higgs Boson = "God Particle" media habit.
    I really wish the people who rejected science would stop using it to spread their message.
  • Dr. TimoDr. Timo
    That's a very short paper!
    Indeed :-). Of course, one does not get ones name attached to a significant particle physics mechanism without doing a lot of follow up, but that's the paper that everyone cites.

  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    edited December 2011
    Oh Japan..
    image
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    edited July 2012
    So, ~5 sigma for a new boson at ~125GeV.
    Post edited by lackofcheese on
  • DromaroDromaro
    I can't wait for Timo to weigh in. *makes popcorn*
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    So. God particle? God particle.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    edited July 2012
    So. God Damn particle? God Damn particle.
    FTFY
    Post edited by George Patches on
  • MattMatt
    Scientists have instead discovered the Higgs Boston, which was wicked elusive
  • NeitoNeito
    Scientists have instead discovered the Higgs Boston, which was wicked elusive
    Pissah.
  • RymRym
    edited July 2012
    Professor Higgs, 83, wiped a tear from his eye as the findings were announced, and later said: 'It's really an incredible thing that it's happened in my lifetime.'
    An audience of the world's leading physicists rose in a standing ovation...
    Post edited by Rym on
  • Dr. TimoDr. Timo
    I'm not going to post a long piece because it's my son's birthday and we're heading for th summer cottage tomorrow so lots of packing etc. but yeah, they found it. I'm a little bit sceptical about how they managed the 4.9 and 5.0 sigma limits respectively (the latter e.g. is a local significance and drop down to something 4.xx when taking the look elsewhere effect into account, an effect of "well statistical fluctuations happen so there must be a bump somewhere"). There was probably a metric gigaton of pressure to perform for this conference.

    But I am not sceptical at all about the fact that there is something there and that this day will be remenered as the day the higgs was found.

    What was really interesting from my point of view was that the particle that they discovered does not behave like the Standard model Higgs boson in certain respects. Mainly it seems like it does fix the "Unitary Problem" but it seems not to do the whole "give masses to fermions" bit.

    This is extremely nice since it means that I still have a job.

    Here is a nice pic of the bump
    image

    And also
    image
  • Not nineNot nine
    WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~!!!!!!!!! Another awesome for the Europe-based LHC.
  • Dr. TimoDr. Timo
    edited July 2012
    This discovery also means that the SSC would have discovered the Higgs in the US a decade ago.
    Post edited by Dr. Timo on
  • Not nineNot nine
    But did they? It took a European to say god is dead and that we killed him, and it took Europe to find god particles. KA-BLAM.
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    'Murka! 'Cause science is for FAGS!
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    edited July 2012
    'Murka! 'Cause science is for FAGS!
    image
    Post edited by WindUpBird on
  • GregGreg
    So all my European friends are like "pff, happy birthday I GUESS. Anyways, where's YOUR Higgs-boson?"
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    edited July 2012
    I just read about the SSC, which was shelved because people said the US couldn't afford both it and the space program..

    "abandoning the SSC at this point would signal that the United States is compromising its position of leadership in basic science" - Bill Clinton.
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • AndrewAndrew
    BRB discovering life on Mars.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    That wasn't a jab, more a "urrgghhh...".
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