As seen back in December, there was a tantalizing hint of a boson more massive than the Higgs, which if true, would point to some new and very exciting physics. Unfortunately, the blip in the data does not appear to be holding up under the scrutiny of better statistics. When the potential particle was announced, 377 papers were thrown up on arxiv as would-be Einsteins set out to stake a claim in the new theoretical physics wilderness. The null result was presented at the biennial International Conference on High Energy Physics.
The null results also set up one of the more humorous situations at the meeting. Immediately following the talks in which experimenters said the purported particle didn't exist, five different theorists took turns explaining what the particle might be.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Saturday August 06 2016, @08:22PM
You've gone through a couple boxes of chalk writing equations on the blackboard, written a paper, flown to a conference, rehearsed your talk. Then some dipwad ahead of you says "our bad, there was nothing there".
Now what? Head off to the bar? Give the talk anyway?
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Saturday August 06 2016, @09:02PM
'but when we added yet another dimension, we got it all to balance and it works, again'
too many notes; but never enough dimensions, it seems.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."