Last year CERN announced the finding of a new elementary particle, the Higgs particle. But maybe it wasn't the Higgs particle, maybe it just looks like it. And maybe it is not alone.
Many calculations indicate that the particle discovered last year in the CERN particle accelerator was indeed the famous Higgs particle. Physicists agree that the CERN experiments did find a new particle that had never been seen before, but according to an international research team, there is no conclusive evidence that the particle was indeed the Higgs particle.
The research team has scrutinized the existing scientific data from CERN about the new-found particle and published their analysis in the journal Physical Review D. A member of this team is Mads Toudal Frandsen, associate professor at the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics Phenomenology, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy at the University of Southern Denmark.
"The CERN data is generally taken as evidence that the particle is the Higgs particle. It is true that the Higgs particle can explain the data but there can be other explanations, we would also get this data from other particles", Mads Toudal Frandsen explains.
The researchers' analysis does not debunk the possibility that CERN has discovered the Higgs particle. That is still possible — but it is equally possible that it is a different kind of particle.
[Paper]: http://arxiv.org/abs/1309.2097
(Score: 2) by tathra on Sunday November 09 2014, @05:12PM
i've been disappointed ever since i'd heard that the higgs was discovered because its such a boring discovery - the universe works exactly as we thought, with no new hints towards higher physics. a total disappointment.
i'm really hoping that this is true, that we didn't find the higgs, because that means there's a lot more secrets of the universe left to discover, a lot more unanswered questions, and identifying this hopefully-not-higgs should give hints for where we should look next.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Sunday November 09 2014, @06:26PM
It'll turn out they actually discovered the Boson Particle.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Monday November 10 2014, @06:08AM
Some of the greatest discoveries in science have been heralded not by the words "Eureka, I've found it!" but by "Hmmm, that's odd."
It would indeed be boring if they really did find a Higgs.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Sunday November 09 2014, @05:12PM
I hope that Ladbrokes won't come back for my payout, if we were the victims of a Higgspersonation.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 09 2014, @05:46PM
Now they tell us that there are naval ships sailing around in the Large Hadron Collider so they need to send someone down there to look after the rigging!
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday November 10 2014, @04:23PM
Someone needs to send in the Dread Pirate Roberts, I am pretty sure he could find it.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 09 2014, @06:34PM
The physics community is actually very aware of the possibility that this isn't the "standard model Higgs", but something more complex that behaves similarly under the tested conditions, as many competing theories suggest. That's why some still refer to it as a "Higgs-like particle", and not just "the Higgs particle".
That being said, a standard model Higgs is the simplest possibility, and one that fits all measurements done so far.
Measuring the properties of this particle more accurately is just one of several paths particle physicists pursue in the search for "new physics".
(Score: 4, Funny) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Sunday November 09 2014, @08:39PM
So this is quantum physics? They either found the Higgs boson, or didn't find it. Either is equally possible. They don't know until they look at the results. And even then the results are relative to each observer, so no one knows for sure what anyone else sees when they look at the results?
(E-mail me if you want a pizza roll!)
(Score: 1) by quixote on Sunday November 09 2014, @09:12PM
(mod parent hilarious!)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 09 2014, @09:00PM
Now quantum physicists are applying their long held train of theoretical thought to practice. If a discovered particle doesn't match expectations simply invent a new particle to account for it!
(Score: 1) by ComaVN on Monday November 10 2014, @08:41AM
You didn't even read the summary, did you. It says the discovered particle behaves like the predicted higgs would, but that it's not the only possible explanation.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Monday November 10 2014, @12:19AM
It is my assertion that for every action, there is 3 angels and 2 daemons pushing and pulling through a 16 dimensional space as to create what appears to be an equal and opposite reaction to our limited senses but is in fact is God's guiding hand.
compiling...
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by isostatic on Monday November 10 2014, @12:51AM
There is only one daemon needed now - systemd. Oh for the angels (or angels [blogspot.com]) to rescue us.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 10 2014, @08:39AM
I am trying to get an understanding of particle physics, but the more I read of it, the more preposterous it looks.
It looks so absurd it makes me nauseous.
It reminds me of that being on Star Trek that drove Spock mad just by looking at him.
I think if I took a class in particle physics ( for a grade ), it would indeed drive me absolutely mad.
Fifty years ago, I felt I was very close to understanding things, today I feel like I am just a ghost in a hologram.
If anything, it has reignited my belief I have a creator, even though it was religion itself that damn near had me convinced otherwise. Religious people seem so fixated on the purse that they neglect the soul. I had always perceived them as trying to sell me on the concept of a boogeyman so they could then sell protection against him.
I am getting the strong idea this whole universe and everything in it is nothing more than a dream, conjured up by an extremely powerful imagination. Just the time I think I have something, I look behind the veil and there is nothing there. Another Star-Trek reference... a Dr. Moriarty who cannot leave the holodeck.