Posted on 07/04/2012 7:20:50 AM PDT by James C. Bennett
GENEVA: Scientists at Europe's CERN research center have found a new subatomic particle, a basic building block of the universe, which appears to be the boson imagined and named half a century ago by theoretical physicist Peter Higgs.
"We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature," CERN director general Rolf Heuer told a gathering of scientists and the world's media near Geneva on Wednesday.
"The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger statistics, which will pin down the new particle's properties, and is likely to shed light on other mysteries of our universe."
Two independent studies of data produced by smashing proton particles together at CERN's Large Hadron Collider produced a convergent near-certainty on the existence of the new particle. It is unclear whether it is exactly the boson Higgs described.
But addressing scientists assembled in the CERN auditorium, Heuer posed them a question: "As a layman, I would say I think we have it. Would you agree?" A roar of applause said they did.
Higgs, now 83, from Edinburgh University was among six theorists who proposed the existence of a mechanism by which matter in the universe gained mass. Higgs himself argued that if there were an invisible field responsible for the process, it must be made up of particles. The particle is the emissary of the field and proves its existence.
He and others were at CERN to welcome news of what, to the embarrassment of many scientists, some commentators have labeled the "God particle" for its role in turning the Big Bang into a living universe: Clearly overwhelmed, his eyes welling up, Higgs told the symposium of fellow researchers: "It is an incredible thing that it has happened in my lifetime."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Boson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boson
In particle physics, bosons are one of the two fundamental classes of subatomic particles, the other being fermions.
Bosons are characterized by their obedience to Bose–Einstein statistics. This class of particles includes photons and gluons, as well as the Higgs boson.
The name boson is derived from the surname of the Indian physicist, Satyendra Nath Bose, a contemporary of the German physicist Albert Einstein.
Paging John Titor....
But who created the boson? When someone proves 0x0 equals something other than 0, then things will really get interesting.
Gawd I love bosons.
I’m not going to pretend to know or understand the details, but I think this discovery, if it holds up, has huge implications for the validity of superstring theory.
LOL!
That type of thinking can stretch to infinity. Somewhere along the line 'something' had to have been here since the beginning, if there even was a beginning.
The search begins for its corresponding anti-particle — the boson’s mate, as it were...
And that something would also need a reference point for it to be able to begin anything... so it truly would stretch to infinity. In other words, the infinite regress.
Does Sheldon Cooper agree?
So, after playing with the theory of atoms for almost two hundred years, they think they have actually found something that is indivisible?
“The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger statistics...” And larger grants of free money from the USA.
“The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger statistics...” And larger grants of free money from the USA.
Ahh yes...but a very uncertain future awaits, so it would seem...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/14/us-china-bo-guagua-idUSBRE83C1JF20120414
I practical and applied terms, where can this lead us?
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For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen...
...Being understood from what has been made,
.... so that people are without excuse.
--Romans 1:20 (NIV)
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God bless...
It’s all probably a vast waste of time and resources.
Mans wisdom is foolishness to G_d. (paraphrase)
Who knows though? Surely not me.
Many of these entities do have a short half-life...
I’m wondering when they’ll detect the Higgins boson — wouldn’t that be loverly!
oh yes the Higgins...they say e’liesa broad way up ahead...given the tight budget though it’s hard to know whether to do more or doolittle...of course there are a good many theories already, some sketchy’uns and some very firmy’uns too....
No, it’s not indivisible. In fact they found it by capturing evidence of particles it spawned while disintegrating.
I believe such particles are prevalent in pygmal ions....
Oh all these wonderful theories!
I think I’ll pour myself a nice hot cup of Lepton and try to think them through.
You know, I hadron of my own one time but forgot to write it down....
Fools! How are you guys going to deal with lady Terminators without one?
...pygmal ions...
...oh man that prompted from me a spontaneous breaking out and, like London Bridge, falling down in laughter...
Everytime I read this sort of stuff, I am reminded of Medieval clerics debating home many angels can fit on the head of pin.
Very nice!
(I really love quarky humour ;)
She think I smart.
Is this the particle that if it blows creates everything else?
Well I’d much rather public money went towards expanding our knowledge of the universe than down the rat hole of welfare. Better would be private dollars spent on these accelerators.
The boson was almost extinct at one point, wasn’t it?
If this is the “God Particle,” I think there will be an executive order soon to change the name to the “Obama particle”. Of course, depending on its mass, it might be the “Michelle Particle.” We’ll need some more funding to study that.
A unified field theory. Maybe the control of gravity. Ships that can float up into space instead of having to be sent on enormous expensive and dangerous rockets. Maybe new ways of generation clean energy. This is just another piece of the puzzle gaining us a clearer picture of the way the universe works. It also helps us to know what questions to look into next.
I was hoping for that kind of response. THX
What’s not to love. They don’t bother anyone. They usually keep to themselves.
these are not really particles per se....it's just that it's easier to think in those terms. they have energy, they vibrate and are influenced by gravity. we call them particles.
I was reading Richard Feynman, who has to be my all-time favorite physicist-,was trying—unsucessfully— to explain just that to his very bright father, with regard to other sub-atomic particles. So help me to betsy, but they are more “spirits” with ectoplasm, than the “billard ball” atoms of the 19th century. Having to think in terms of probabilities than the certainies that newtonian physics once promised.
Actually no. From such knowledge comes the ability to build new things.
“Particles,”of course being a somewhat misleading term.
Agreed. Humor = good.
Seems wise to enjoy yuk-yuk-yuk-away interactions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukawa_interaction) if they present themselves, especially in these difficult times, if only as a means of moral support & confidence distribution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_distribution)!
In the meantime hang in, keep the spirits up, and battle on in the cause of esprit de corps and conservative unitarity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarity_(physics)!
So, what did they carry it in, and where did they take it? I thought they were just trying to uncover it; seems premature to have already carted it away, as well.
Oh, come on. Just as real as a glimmer in an Angel’s eye. And I am religious.
where’d she get that shirt? I want...it.
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