Share: The biggest discovery in half a century
Higgs Field animation
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of the Higgs field and its effect on different elemental parti...
4 July 2012Herald Sun
The physicists say they have discovered a particle consistent with the
Higgs boson, a theoretical particle that is key to the scientific
understanding of all matter.
The European Organisation for Nuclear Research or CERN said the discovery was a milestone in the understanding of nature.
Physicists stressed the results presented at a joint conference in Melbourne and Geneva were preliminary.
They were unsure if the particle was the long sought-after Higgs boson, or God particle, or something more "exotic".
"The
next step will be to determine the precise nature of the particle and
its significance for our understanding of the universe," a CERN
statement said.
CERN director general Rolf Heuer said it was a milestone.
"We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature," he said.
"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."A spokesman for one of two teams involved in the experiment said the preliminary results were dramatic.
"This is indeed a new particle," CMS experiment spokesperson Joe Incandela said.
"We know it must be a boson and it's the heaviest boson ever found.
"The implications are very significant and it is precisely for this
reason that we must be extremely diligent in all of our studies and
cross-checks."
CERN said positive identification of the new particle's characteristics would take considerable time and data.
British physicist Peter Higgs
arrives for the opening of a seminar to deliver the latest update in the
50-year bid to explain a riddle of fundamental matter in the search for
a particle called the Higgs boson at the European Organization for
Nuclear Research (CERN) in Meyrin, near Geneva. Picture: AFP
The standard model of particle physics described the fundamental
particles from which we, and every visible thing in the universe, are
made, and the forces acting between them, CERN said.
"All the matter that we can see, however, appears to be no more than about four per cent of the total.
"A
more exotic version of the Higgs particle could be a bridge to
understanding the 96 per cent of the universe that remains obscure."Physicists
have been trying for 30 years to find evidence that the theoretical
subatomic particle exists, leading to the CERN experiments using the $10
billion Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator, 100 metres
underground near Geneva.
A summary of experiments conducted by
one of the two teams at the Large Hadron Collider said further analysis
of the particle was needed.
"More data are necessary to establish
whether this new particle has all the properties of the SM Higgs boson
or whether some do not match, implying physics beyond the standard
model," a statement on the CMS results said.
A spokesman for the second team ATLAS, Fabiola Gianotti, said they observed clear signs of a new particle.
"More data and more study will be needed to determine the new particle's properties."
The Higgs boson is the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle, an Australian scientist said.
Professor
Anthony Thomas, based at the University of Adelaide, said it was the
most important and profound discovery in particle physics in almost 30
years.
"The Higgs represents the key missing piece of the jigsaw
puzzle that is the famous standard model of nuclear and particle
physics," Prof Thomas said.
"It has been anticipated for more
than four decades and were it not there theorists all over the world
would have been back to their drawing boards in desperation."
Read more:
http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/scientists-may-have-found-god-particle/story-fn5fsgyc-1226417165748#ixzz1zevYrTW2
THE practical benefits of the "God
particle" are difficult for physicists to explain because they are
potentially so far reaching.
The global scientific community is abuzz about the 30-year search
for the Higgs boson or the God particle, a theoretical particle that is
key to the scientific understanding of all matter.
But it is
difficult to envisage the practical applications of the search being
undertaken using the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider particle
accelerator, 100 metres underground near Geneva.
Peter Jenni, a
senior physicist at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research or
CERN, said there were many examples of how physics had shaped our daily
life.
"You probably have an iPhone or a smart phone," Dr Jenni told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.
"Without some basic physics, centuries ago ... we wouldn't have this.
"What we hope is to fix now the understanding of the standard model
of physics which is the basis of many applications, many things which
we actually see in all day life."
The results of the research
being done near Geneva could help scientists probe other mysteries of
the universe such as the nature of dark matter.
"Of course you never could predict what happens later on," Dr Jenni said.
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