Large Hadron Collider Rival Tevatron 'Has Found Higgs boson', say Rumours

Telegraph ^ | July 12, 2010 | Tom Chivers

[lbryce]

Tommaso Dorigo, a physicist at the University of Padua, has said in his blog that there has been talk coming out of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, that the Higgs has been discovered.

The Tevatron, the huge particle accelerator at Fermi - the most powerful in the world after the LHC - is expected to be retired when the CERN accelerator becomes fully operational, but may have struck a final blow before it becomes obsolete.

If one form of the rumour is to be believed - and Prof Dorigo is extremely circumspect about it - then it is a "three-sigma" signature, meaning that there is a statistical likelihood of 99.7 per cent that it is correct. But, of course, that is only if the rumour is to be believed.

In the post, titled "Rumors about a light Higgs", Prof Dorigo said: "It reached my ear, from two different, possibly independent sources, that an experiment at the Tevatron is about to release some evidence of a light Higgs boson signal.

"Some say a three-sigma effect, others do not make explicit claims but talk of a unexpected result."

While media attention has been focusing on the LHC, the Tevatron has been quietly plugging away in the search for Higgs. In the 27 years since it was first completed (it has been regularly upgraded since then) it has discovered a quark and observed four different baryons. While it has not been able to pinpoint the elusive Higgs, it has narrowed the search, reducing the window of possible masses where it might be found.

Last year, Fermi physicists said they expected to have enough data to find or rule out the Higgs by early next year, and gave themselves a fifty-fifty chance of finding it before the end of 2010.

[lbryce]

The Higgs boson is the last of the particles posited by the standard model of particle physics still to be found. It is said to explain why other particles have mass, and its discovery would confirm the standard model. If its existence is ruled out altogether, then other, previously less popular theories will have to be examined.

Yeah, finding the long elusive 'Higgs boson" aka "the God particle" is a big deal but if you really want to get people's attention let's see it find Jimmy Hoffa.

[lbryce]

For those interested, check out the video on the linked page.

[lbryce]

For those interested, check out the video on the linked page.

[WVKayaker]

Maybe Whoraldo can find another empty safe!

[ConservativeMan55]

Fermi? Tavatron? CERN accelerator?

I’m not sure I understand a word in that entire article.

[mad_as_he$$]

If true this is the biggest triumph in physics in a long time. I will wait for confirmation.

[Hot Tabasco]

While it has not been able to pinpoint the elusive Higgs

A more reliable but anonymous source says Higgs is hiding in Argentina......

[Red Badger]

Okay, Where did Higgs lose his Boson?................

[Red Badger]

Translation:

Scientists spend huge amounts of money to find a small particle..............film at eleven..........

[lbryce]

That’s what Mrs. Higgs is desperately trying to find out. That’s her Boson, ya know?

[Smokin' Joe]

I bet Higgs will be glad to get it back...(8^D)

[C19fan]

Fermi: Name of a particle physics lab outside Chicage.
Tevatron: Name of the circular particle accelerator that is the centerpiece of Fermia Lab. Named Tevatron because it was the first particle accelerator to generate over 1 trillion electron volts and was the most powerful accelerator until the LHC went online.
LHC: Large Hadron Collidor. Name of the largest particle accelerator in the world on the Swiss-French border. It has a 17 mile circumference.
Higgs Boson: The particle that gives matter mass; predicted by the Standard Theory of particle physics but not yet discovered in experiments.

[reagan_fanatic]

I, for one, hope they find Higgs.

Poor little thing must be scared to death after being lost all this time.

[Frenchtown Dan]

Or maybe it can find out where zerobozo really came from.

[Red Badger]

I'm glad I still got MY Bose on!..............

[Red Badger]

Tevatron: .... because it was the first particle accelerator to generate over 1 trillion electron volts...

So we have a Tevabudget deficit?............

[C19fan]

Yep, hee hee.

[Inwoodian]

Get back to me when they find Obama’s birth certificate.

[lbryce]

How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast.
God knows what He is doing.
Your tag line is reminiscent of two adages on this subject.
In German it's Der Mensch Tracht, Un Gott Macht.
Man conceives (inspires) and God Creates,
In Yiddish its, Der Mensch Tracht, Un Gott Lacht.
Man conceives, God Laughs.

[I cannot think of a name]

While it all sounds very trivial, this is part of the larger search for the Holy Grail - true fusion energy production.

All this silliness about electric cars and the like is just that silliness - because the energy it takes to produce the electricity it typically as dirty and troublesome as fossil fuel. Fusion energy would be a game changer. If there were a cheap, nonpolluting way to create electricity, a bunch of environmentalist wet dreams could come through.

Having said that, I have a friend that is a physicists and he assures me practically fusion energy production isn't likely to happen in our life time. But I guess they could always get lucky.