The Higgs-Boson "God-particle" May Have Been Found - Polidicks

Surprised I haven't seen a thread on this yet. Big news. [url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1379844/Science-world-buzzing-rumours-elusive-God-particle-found.html[/url] [quote]The world's largest atom smasher is rumoured to have found the Higgs boson, the subatomic particle otherwise known as the 'God particle'. The speculation is based on a leaked internal note, said to be from physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 17 mile-long particle accelerator near Geneva, Switzerland. The rumours started when an anonymous post disclosed part of the note on Columbia University mathematician Peter Woit's blog, Not Even Wrong. While some physicists are dismissing the note as a hoax, others say the find could be a huge particle physics breakthrough in understanding the workings of the universe. Physicist Sheldon Stone of Syracuse University said: 'If it were to be real, it would be really exciting.' The Higgs boson is predicted to exist by the particle physics theory known as the Standard Model. The Higgs boson, physicists believe, bestows mass on all the other particles and was crucial to forming the cosmos after the Big Bang. It has long eluded physicists who believe it could explain why objects have mass.[/quote] Fantastic discovery, if it's actually true. It's human nature to seek attention or create controversy, but should it be found fact, it could be the biggest breakthrough in particle physics, theoretical physics, astrophysics, just physics in general, of this century thus far. Also, if you scroll down to the bottom, there's an infobox detailing the shutdown of the Tevatron at Fermilab in the US. It's out of funding, and the LHC will end up being the only large-scale particle accelerator in the world.

:science:

Just rumors really, but still awesome nonetheless.

I swear I've seen 5 news articles since the LHC hype in '09 saying they found the Higgs-Boson

I heard about this before the news caught wind of it, it's dubious and it's not backed by the whole ATLAS detector group, just some physicists who analysed the data independently. There's also some aspects which are totally different from what the standard model of particle physics predicts which either means this discovery is a false alarm, or really profound. For instance the decay rate of the Higgs to two photons is 30 times larger than what the standard model predicts. It's also a '4-sigma' event (a measure of the confidence of the result being correct) which isn't that amazing. It's too early to say whether this is correct or not, but this is why places like CERN and NASA keep things secret and then make official press statements (which FP always thinks is NASA announcing aliens exist or something, when it's just standard practice) when they are sure of the result. It stops the media picking up on some not yet verified or peer reviewed data and announcing it as true, only for it to be found false later on. That's not happened here because it's independent analysis of the ATLAS results, anyone can look at the data coming from the LHC. Go on Atlas's website and they even put up real time collison images from the detector.

I wish the media would stop calling it the "god particle". [QUOTE=nERVEcenter;29400081]Fantastic discovery, if it's actually true. It's human nature to seek attention or create controversy, but should it be found fact, it could be the biggest breakthrough in particle physics, theoretical physics, astrophysics, just physics in general, of this century thus far.[/QUOTE] It's bigger news if it doesn't exist, that'd mean a fair bit of what we know is wrong.

the daily mail is a barely a source also it's leaked and a bunch of physicists have called it a hoax, I know who I believe

I love science, but as DainBramageStudio says, it's most likely a hoax.

[QUOTE=The golden;29400259]We need to stop calling it the fucking "God" particle. Keep religion out of science. Also if it was found, I'm sure more fanfare and celebration would have commenced.[/QUOTE] Yeah, god--excuse me--science forbid we should ever give anything nicknames!

[QUOTE=The golden;29400259]We need to stop calling it the fucking "God" particle. Keep religion out of science. [/QUOTE] Well, to be fair, God did make it.

[QUOTE=TheLittleBus;29400674]Yeah, god--excuse me--science forbid we should ever give anything nicknames![/QUOTE] Well, its monicker was coined by the media. Not by Higgs, who resents its nickname.

I think we need to stop calling it the God Particle just because it gives people the wrong idea, that the particle has some religious significance, or anything to do with God at all, which it doesn't. Some people think it'll prove or deny the existence of God just because of the name coined by a scientists who now hates its usage.

[QUOTE=TheLittleBus;29400674]Yeah, god--excuse me--science forbid we should ever give anything nicknames![/QUOTE] "God particle" makes it sound like the be all and end all of particle physics, which it certainly isn't.

Hahahaha using the Daily Mail as a source. Oh facepunch.

[QUOTE=ken188;29400758]Well, to be fair, God did make it.[/QUOTE] source?

[QUOTE=john_frohman;29401024]source?[/QUOTE] His ass.

[QUOTE=Nerts;29400951]"God particle" makes it sound like the be all and end all of particle physics, which it certainly isn't.[/QUOTE] It is certainly very very important, probably the most important particle ever. Or something, I don't actually remember why.

[QUOTE=Tetracycline;29401429]It is certainly very very important, probably the most important particle ever. Or something, I don't actually remember why.[/QUOTE] It isn't, it's a theoretical particle that's predicted to cause mass, that's it.

Holy shit, I did not expect FPers to jump on the "god particle" moniker so quickly. It has nothing to do with the Judeo-Christian God. Get the sand out of your vaginas.

[QUOTE=john_frohman;29401024]source?[/QUOTE] duh the bible

[QUOTE=Sanius;29401587]Holy shit, I did not expect FPers to jump on the "god particle" moniker so quickly. It has nothing to do with the Judeo-Christian God. Get the sand out of your vaginas.[/QUOTE] You are fucking retarded. The particle has been [i]dubbed[/i] this way because it's basically the underlying particle that explains loads of crap. If God existed, it'd explain loads of crap. See the connection?

[QUOTE=Elexar;29401614]See the connection?[/QUOTE] No, but maybe I would if I was a raging antitheist with nothing better to be angry about.

[QUOTE=Sanius;29401587]Holy shit, I did not expect FPers to jump on the "god particle" moniker so quickly. It has nothing to do with the Judeo-Christian God. Get the sand out of your vaginas.[/QUOTE] We've had like a bazillion articles and discussions before the LHC was even built. Calling it the "god particle" really hasn't been a qualm among most Facepunchers. Quit trying to start shit.

[QUOTE=Sanius;29401641]No, but maybe I would if I was a raging antitheist with nothing better to be angry about.[/QUOTE] Why on earth are you shoving this down into religious categories?

[QUOTE=Tetracycline;29401429]It is certainly very very important, probably the most important particle ever. Or something, I don't actually remember why.[/QUOTE] It's important because it can answer a lot of questions, and it'll be evidence for or against certain theories, like [url=http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersymmetry]super symmetry.[/url] But it's more of a big stepping stone in the progress of particle physics, I think the most important particle every discovered is still the electron. Without that discovery, electronics just wouldn't exist. Maybe discovering the Higgs will lead to being able to manipulate it like we manipulate the electron, decades or centuries down the line, but at the moment finding it will just have benefits in fundamental research, filling in gaps in the standard model, opening up new areas of research etc. It's important, but a lot of its coverage in the media is probably down to it being nicknamed the God Particle, as well as the LHC destroying the world bullshit, but at least it got science coverage even if it wasn't the best kind of coverage.

[QUOTE=Nerts;29401513]It isn't, it's a theoretical particle that's predicted to cause mass, that's it.[/QUOTE] Yeah, and who cares about where mass comes from?

[quote]others say the find could be a huge particle physics breakthrough in understanding the workings of the universe[/quote] See to me I think about getting closer to time travel or teleportation, but in the back of mind I know it's not nearly that fun. Then again, that's why I'm not a scientist. That and my alarming lack of common sense.

[QUOTE=petieng;29401690]It's important because it can answer a lot of questions, and it'll be evidence for or against certain theories, like [url=http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersymmetry]super symmetry.[/url] But it's more of a big stepping stone in the progress of particle physics, I think the most important particle every discovered is still the electron. Without that discovery, electronics just wouldn't exist. Maybe discovering the Higgs will lead to being able to manipulate it like we manipulate the electron, decades or centuries down the line, but at the moment finding it will just have benefits in fundamental research, filling in gaps in the standard model, opening up new areas of research etc. It's important, but a lot of its coverage in the media is probably down to it being nicknames the God Particle, as well as the LHC destroying the world bullshit, but at least it got science coverage even if it wasn't the best kind of coverage.[/QUOTE] We'd learn more if we find something else no one predicted, but we'll discover a lot in any case, even if we don't find anything.

[QUOTE=MintyMginty;29401758]See to me I think about getting closer to time travel or teleportation, but in the back of mind I know it's not nearly that exciting.[/QUOTE] I would imagine we can do amazing things if we learn to manipulate a particle that is believed to be responsible for creating mass.

[QUOTE=TheDecryptor;29401751]Yeah, and who cares about where mass comes from?[/QUOTE] What I mean is it's just an elementary particle, it doesn't control everything nor is it central, "god particle" is a bad name for it.