Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Boson discovery announced by CERN

Today CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) announced that after 3 years of research using the brand new Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland, they have gathered enough data to recognize a new sub-atomic particle. This discovery has been made in the frame of the search for the elusive Higgs Boson, a particle that has been predicted theoretically, but never observed, as an essential part of the most widely accepted model for quantum mechanics, the Standard Model.

There are currently two independent teams working at the collider with this goal in mind, and combined data results show that a previously unknown particle has been definitely observed, and it is with certainty a boson. However, in the press conference this morning, scientists and project leaders have made it clear that while it was a boson, they could not yet confirm it was the boson.

Much more analysis of the data will be needed for this, however the news has been well received by the science community, and the general consensus is that, while it will take a little more confirmation, this is probably it.

Whichever the end result is, whether it's the Higgs boson or a completely new boson, it is certainly a historic day and it will unlock new paths for quantum physics.

A Q and A followed the press conference as usual and some pertinent questions were answered. The team was very careful to let know that this was not the definite answer to whether or not the Higgs boson exists yet, and that the Standard Model was incomplete and this is just another piece of the puzzle.
Some other journalists in the room seemed more interested in when will the particle be confirmed, why are we putting so much budget into research in a time of crisis, and other irrelevant questions.

The fact of the matter is, after much hard work with the aid of an superb machine, scientists once again delve deeper into the makings of the universe around us, taking us closer maybe to the ultimate question of what is everything made of and where did it come from?


3 comments:

  1. It's awesome we found this, but I still wish they'd admit they broke the speed of light so we can delve even further and find more awesome super science.

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  2. They didn't break the speed of light, it was a mistake or an error in the readings. When we observed one of the latest supernovas happening, at the same time the photons (light particles) reached us, so did a shower of neutrinos (that particle that supposedly broke the speed of light). If traveling through thousands of light years, these two particles arrived at the same time, why would a neutrino go faster than light from Switzerland to Italy?

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  3. While the science is impressive, I find that shirt to be the best thing about this post.

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