Higgs hunt heats up with final Tevatron data
July 3, 2012 | Source: Wired Science
Part of the 4-mile circumference ring where protons and antiprotons were accelerated to incredible speeds at the Tevatron (credit: Fermilab)
On July 4 at 9 a.m. in Geneva (3 a.m. in New York), officials at the Large Hadron Collider are expected to present new results on, and possibly the discovery of, the Higgs boson.
Tevatron at Fermilab in Illinois announced their latest data on July 2, which gives more strong evidence for the existence of the Higgs.
The Higgs is the final piece of the Standard Model of physics, which explains the interactions between all known subatomic particles and forces, and is required to give all other particles their mass.
The mass of the Higgs boson itself is still unknown, though the new Tevatron data corroborate earlier results from both the Tevatron and the LHC that place the Higgs between 115 and 135 gigaelectron volts (GeV), or roughly 115 to 135 times heavier than a proton.
The new Tevatron data are 2.9-sigma — a relatively low significance but, because they support the LHC results, they place even greater confidence in the signal being a true indication of the Higgs. Furthermore, the Tevatron sees the Higgs decay in particular ways that the LHC isn’t sensitive to, meaning it could clarify certain properties of the Higgs that the LHC may struggle with.
Comments (8)
by mellvin goldstein
Numbers are the Supreme Court of science. However Godel proved that we may not prove everything using numbers. Physics needs numbers. There must be Physics Foibles. Always more to prove.
by Chrispium
“There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now, All that remains is more and more precise measurement.”
–Lord Kelvin circa 1896
He was wrong of course and so stands as a warning to us all about declaring a field of science completed.
by Lord Penguin
Soon after we discover (assuming we will) the Higgs boson, we’ll find something else that doesn’t quite match up with the standard model, and have to change it all again (actually, we already have things that don’t quite match up. But as particle colliders get stronger, telescopes get bigger, and instruments of all sorts get more precise, we’ll discover stranger and stranger things).
by leslie
isn’t the beauty of science, that we’ll never know what we don’t know? is’nt that the engine driving all discoveries?
by Conrad Green
But thats good turk. If we have all the answers than nobody wants to ask questions. And nobody gets content. I hope we have more questions. I heard somewhere that the subatomic particles that are E= MC2 theory is an illusion. I ‘m not saying it doesnt exist but more so that it’s that we don’t have every [piece of the puzzle. Excuse the typos.
by elvis
it looks like someone is trying to give some credit to American experiments. It will be a happy news if the LHC found the existence of the higgs boson. Theres no need trying to squeez in what USA has done.
by Justin Hedge
Try 137. ;)
by Turk
I have a feeling that the discovery of the Higgs will lead to more questions then answers down the road. Whenever we think we have a “complete” picture on something that seems to be when we discover we don’t really “know” anything.