So, a Higgs boson asked a priest, "How can you have mass without me?"

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Congrats to Geneva! The CERN, LHC has likely discovered the "goddamn" Higgs boson. FERMIlab is on the scent as well. Cosmologists are torn away from their telescopes and are studying the tiny particles in the colliders. Smashing tiny stuff to learn about the multiverse is extremely exciting. The standard model is accurate.

America blew our chance to discover such, in Texas, USA. We were too lame and plus we had a deficit to reduce. When we don't invest, we can't discover nice things. Today, we sheepishly defend even basic science in Texas and get predictable poor results.

It would be nice to see dark matter bottled in the United States in my lifetime, a pity I will have to settle for seeing New Orleans "drowned in a bathtub".

Comments

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

England does rock. Just the music output in the 60-70's alone.

[foolsguinea.livejournal.com]

This kind of nationalistic nonsense is unhelpful. Science doesn't care about your flags.

[a-new-machine.livejournal.com]

I kinda think you're downplaying the importance of the Higgs boson here. The whole point is that the Higgs would confirm the standard model - the set of assumptions and derived conclusions we've made based on other observations. It's not the only possible explanation of the evidence, but it is the neatest one. If it were not found, then it would mean a huge change in how physics works, at a very fundamental level. I mean, you can do the math a hundred times over, but in the end, sifting through the elementary particles that make up the things that make up the things that make up us for the one that makes them able to make anything is... pretty badass.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

If the Higgs Boson is discovered, then this would certainly be a big deal in physics terms.

[major-dallas.livejournal.com]

hmmm, well when they finally annouce it, great, its just the last couple of times they made a big ado about Higgs-Boson, it was to say, "oh, we just missed it!" hope its not a repeat...

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

So we are doom'd, after all.....

[dexeron.livejournal.com]

I'd be surprised if we saw 5 sigma just yet. Then again, why have a press conference about NOT achieving a 5 sigma result yet? From all speculation, there should still be more data to collect. I have no doubts it's there, and that we'll find it, but unless something unprecedented has occurred, 5 sigma certainty should still be premature.

Except then you have Brian Greene saying things like this: "The five living physicists who discovered the Higgs idea have been invited to the CERN announcement, suggesting Wednesday's news may be big."

Anyway, Sci-ence (the webcomic) did a cute one on the Higgs Bosun back in December:

http://sci-ence.org/higgs/ (http://sci-ence.org/higgs/)

[dwer.livejournal.com]

wednesday, eh? Is it going to conflict with the Wednesday announcement that's being made at the Firefly panel at San Diego Comicon?

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

why have a press conference about NOT achieving a 5 sigma result yet?

To justify the money. But I truly hope its a hit. I mean, it would be way harder to say "we didn't find it, so lets spend money building a better collider" than it would to say, "see what we discovered, lets spend more and discover more".

[op-tech-glitch.livejournal.com]

Funny stuff: some more-atheist-than-thou types on my Facebook are actually bothering to grouse over people referring to it as the God particle.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Its a confusing name to the general public and therefore a poor choice.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

[a-new-machine.livejournal.com]

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

Well, rumors are rumors for now, as were the previous announcements of premature discovery. Until CERN makes an official release (or ICHEP rolls around), all we can do is wait and see what they're coming up with this time. Guessing is usually a bad idea.

Still, it wouldn't surprise me. Ever since the December announcement people have not been crying foul, so we'll see how things go.

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

Smashing tiny stuff is a rather crude way to explore sub-atomic physics. There are some scientists who are concerned that atom smashers fabricate forms of matter that would not exist in nature. They question the validity of the results that have been achieved to date. It is like investigating human nature by observing what happens when a large number of people are penned together in a very small space.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

You're consistent! They have to demonstrate faults in the methodology....

[peamasii.livejournal.com]

What would be really cool is if they figure out a way to remove dark matter from everything, the mass would be reduced by 27%+, making overall energy consumption that much less by comparison. We'd be able to squeeze another 10 years or so out of oil supplies alone.

[peamasii.livejournal.com]

that would be the bomb if they announce a 5 sigma

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Excitement is high at home, as my hubby is talking about this all the time. Well, he's not exactly the physicist sort of employee over there, he's more about maintaining their IT systems, but still... the spirit of the whole event is contagious. After all, this is why we moved to live here, this is a keystone moment in the family.

The conference they'll be having tomorrow morning, is going to be EPIC. And the most fascinating part is that... they didn't find the Higgs exactly "where" they predicted it to be! As it happens so often. And that would probably make them scratch their heads some more, grab the pencils anew, and want to come up with a totally novel concept of particle physics in the next few months. As always, there are some draft theories out there already.

More on this later, after the conference.

Fermilab or CERN, it'd still be a humankind's achievement. One day the indirect effects from this discovery will be felt throughout the whole world, and this new step towards understanding the fabric of the cosmos will be harnessed for everybody's use, the way thermonuclear fusion was.

This is potentially HUGE. I'm not sure most people realize how huge it could be for scientific progress.

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

Physicists usually do not get overly excited just like that, without having enough evidence. So this must really be a significant moment. Let's hope it won't be like the fiasco with the superluminous neutrinos.

Of course there is always the conspiracy theory that they are only trying to justify the enormous expenses for CERN. :-)

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

I have no particular concerns about what country discovers what. I don't care who does it. We're humans.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Fundamentally, I agree and 500 years from now, no one will care what nation made what progress.

But, there is something sad to think that had we finished what we began in Texas, we'd all be having another discussion because we'd already be there.

I want us to take science seriously in the land of the free and I'm not above shaming.....as you know.

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

What if the "god particle" turns out to be the devil?

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Then we've found The Details!