Large Hadron Collider rival Tevatron 'has found Higgs boson'

Telegraph ^ | June 12th, 2010 | Tom Chivers

[TaraP]

Rumours are emerging from the rival to the Large Hadron Collider that the Higgs boson, or so-called "God particle", has been found.

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."

[mathprof]

This would be a really BIG DEAL, if it is true.

[Uncle Miltie]

I found Cheryl Higgins’ bosom once. Does that count?

[Paradox]

From my understanding, the Tevatron was _just_ on the edge of having enough theoretical energy to see the Higgs. Who knows, maybe they were right..

[P8riot]

Just once?

[Bratch]

[edcoil]

Like the movie Contact. A second unknown site built.

[crghill]

All I can say about this is....huh?

[muawiyah]

Just on the edge of seeing one of several Higg's bosons ~ or maybe the Higg's boson predicted with THE STANDARD MODEL. If this is just the lightest of a group, then THE STANDARD MODEL gets chucked, a whole bunch of physicists careers restart, and other stuff happens ~ or not.

The Atheists will continue to kvetch about "the God particle" appellation as if that's important, or that they are important ~ which they aren't. Who cares about the sensitivity of Atheists' ears anyway.

[Patton@Bastogne]

why ?

[Larry Lucido]

How will we know they found it, and didn’t just say they found it? Will there just be a fuzzy picture, like those of Bigfoot or Nessie? :-)

[sourcery]

So you were boson buddies? :-)

[Rebelbase]

Don’t anger the anti-matter...

[StormEye]

Sophia Loren is on the left but who is the blond on the right?

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

The way I understand it is that once we’ve found it, the world ends. Hope that helps.

[wolfpat]

Only if you have pictures.

[Larry Lucido]

So can I max out my charge cards yet?

[lonevoice]

Jayne Mansfield

[Noumenon]

John Bigboote: Laugh while you can, monkey boy.

[musicman]

"Large Hadron Collider rival Tevatron 'has found Higgs boson'"