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Higgs boson hunt over: CERN scientists at Large Hadron Collider find 'God particle'

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Higgs boson hunt over as CERN scientists at Large Hadron Collider find 'God particle'



After a quest spanning nearly half a century, physicists said they had found a new sub-atomic particle consistent with the elusive Higgs which is believed to confer mass.







“As a layman I would say we have it, but as a scientist I have to say, ’what do we have?’” Heuer told a press conference.


AP Photo/Denis Balibouse, Pool

Peter Higgs, a shy, soft-spoken British physicist who in 1964 published the conceptual groundwork for the particle and whose name became associated with it, expressed delight.



“I just want to say that my thoughts go to Robert Brout,” said Englert, his eyes moist with tears, as he lauded a fellow pioneer who died in 2011 before the once-outlandish theory could be proved.


AP Photo/Denis Balibouse, Pool




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The task is arduous because there are trillions of signals, occurring among particles at different ranges of mass. The Higgs has been dubbed the “God particle” because it is powerful and ubiquitous yet so hard to find.




Both said that the results were “five sigma,” meaning there was just a 0.00006 percent chance that what the two laboratories found is a mathematical quirk.




AP Photo/Denis Balibouse, Pool

History was then feted with beer and champagne.

Scientists began to pore over what the find could mean.

“(The Higgs) has been anticipated for more than four decades and were it not there theorists all over the world would have been back to their drawing boards in desperation,” said Anthony Thomas at the University of Adelaide in Australia.

CERN physicist Yves Sirois agreed.



AP Photo/Keystone/Martial Trezzini, File

What is the Higgs boson?

The Higgs boson cannot be seen but scientists believe it exists. Why? Because scientists also believe that something called the Higgs field exists and the Higgs boson is part of that field.

Hmmm, so what’s the Higgs field?

The Higgs field is everywhere in space, or so scientists believe. Think of the Higgs field as oil and everything that passes through it is slowed down. Higgs bosons “stick” to particles of matter, dragging on them — they give them mass.



AP Photo/Keystone/Martial Trezzini

Why is it important?

The origin of mass (meaning the resistance of an object to being moved) has been fiercely debated for decades. Finding the Higgs boson would vindicate the so-called Standard Model of physics, a theory that developed in the early 1970s, which says the Universe is made from 12 particles that provide the building blocks for all matter.

How sure are they?

If physicists say they’ve found the Higgs boson then they probably have. In scientific parlance, the goal is “five sigma,” meaning it is 99.99997% likely to be genuine. But experts are already being cautious. Last week, CERN boss Rolf Heuer cautioned about the need for verification: “It’s a bit like spotting a familiar face from afar. Sometimes you need closer inspection to find out whether it’s really your best friend, or your best friend’s twin.”

And why is it called the “God particle”?

Like God, it is everywhere but hard to find, goes the quip. In fact, the origin of the name is rather less poetic. It comes from the title of a book by Nobel physicist Leon Lederman whose draft title was “The Goddamn Particle,” to describe the frustrations of trying to nail the Higgs. The title was cut back to The God Particle by his publisher, apparently fearful that “Goddamn” could be offensive.

Keystone/Martial Trezzin / AP files

Will this change my life?

Not in the slightest. If the Higgs boson exists it means that some very clever physicists 50 years ago came up with a theory and now they have been proved right. If it exists then it will add to the sum of human knowledge.

It sounds rather boring, doesn’t it?

WHAT!! On Twitter, a conversational thread called “Higgsteria,” has already been established. “Whether or not the Higgs has been found, tomorrow will be exciting,” said Prof. Peter Knight, president of Britain’s Institute of Physics. “If the Standard Model is confirmed via the discovery of the Higgs boson or whether we need to abandon and start re-writing the textbooks, it’s a historical day in science that we should all be proud of.” So that’s all very exciting.

AP Photo/Denis Balibouse, Pool

National Post with files from AFP

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