CERN physicists hail evidence of game-changing discovery of subatomic particle
Scientists at the world’s biggest atom smashing facility near here claimed the discovery of a new subatomic particle on Wednesday. They found it to be “consistent” with the long-sought Higgs boson, popularly known as the “God particle” that helps explain what gives size and shape to all matter in the universe.
Graphic: New particle could be Higgs boson
“We have now found the missing cornerstone of particle physics,” Rolf Heuer, Director of the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN), told scientists amid cheers and standing ovation. “As a layman, I think we did it,” he said. “We’ve a discovery. We’ve observed a new particle that is consistent with a Higgs boson.”
The Higgs boson, which until now was a theoretical particle, is seen as the key to understanding why matter has mass. It is mass that combines with gravity to give an object weight. The idea is much like gravity and Isaac Newton’s discovery of it. Gravity existed even before Newton explained it. But now scientists see something much like the Higgs boson and can put that knowledge to further use.
CERN’s atom smasher, the $10-billion Large Hadron Collider on the Swiss-French border, has for years been creating high-energy collisions of protons to investigate dark matter, antimatter and the creation of the universe, which many theorise occurred in a massive explosion known as the Big Bang.
Two independent teams at CERN said they had both “observed” a new subatomic particle, a boson. Dr. Heuer called it “most probably a Higgs boson, but we have to find out what kind of Higgs boson it is.”
Asked whether the find is a discovery, he answered: “As a layman, I think we have it. But as a scientist, I have to say, “’What do we have?’”
The leaders of the two CERN teams, Joe Incandela, head of CMS with 2,100 scientists, and Fabiola Gianotti, head of ATLAS with 3,000 scientists, each presented in complicated scientific terms what was essentially extremely strong evidence of a new particle.
Dr. Incandela said it was too soon to say definitively whether what has been discovered is indeed the “standard model” Higgs that Scottish physicist Peter Higgs and others predicted in the 1960s. They did that as part of a standard model theory of physics involving an energy field where particles interact with a key particle, the Higgs boson. “The” Higgs or “a” Higgs that was the question on Wednesday. “It is consistent with a Higgs boson as is needed for the standard model,” Dr. Heuer said. “We can only call it a Higgs boson, not the Higgs boson.”
“It is an incredible thing that it has happened in my lifetime,” he said, calling it a huge achievement for the proton-smashing collider built in a 27-km tunnel.
The stunning work elicited standing ovations and frequent applause at a packed auditorium in CERN as Dr. Gianotti and Dr. Incandela each took their turn. Dr. Incandela called it “a Higgs-like particle,” and said “we know it must be a boson and it’s the heaviest boson ever found.”
“Thanks, nature!” Dr. Gianotti said to laughs, giving credit for the discovery. Later, she said that “the standard model [of physics] is not complete,” but that “the dream is to find an ultimate theory that explains everything we are far from that.”
The phrase “God particle” was coined by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman but is used by laymen, not physicists, as an easier way to explain how the subatomic universe works and got started.
Dr. Incandela said the last undiscovered piece of the standard model could be a variant of the Higgs that was predicted, or something else that entirely changes the way scientists think of how matter is formed. “This boson is a very profound thing we’ve found,” he said. “We’re reaching into the fabric of the universe in a way we never have done before. We’ve kind of completed one particle’s story... now, we’re way out on the edge of exploration.”
Keywords: God particle, Higgs Boson, CERN, Large Hadron Collider, standard model, Peter Higgs, CMS. ATLAS
@Raman - I disagree with your position that spending money on
this was a waste of money for the following reasons -
1. The pursuit of science should not be for merely utilitarian
reasons. What's the utility of great art? of beautiful music?
There are many human pursuits which are done for its own sake,
whether or not there is some utilitarian calculus involved.
Science satisfies the deep curiosity felt by humans, and that is
the greatest reward for many.
2. Still, if you insist on there being some utility to science,
to demand that it bears fruit straight away is misguided. There
has always been a time lag between the discoveries of science and
the fruits of technology, if you define technology as the
application of scientific knowledge for the betterment of human
life. Further, to predict tomorrow's technology from today's
science is often shortsighted.
3. Poverty and hunger exist not for lack of money or food in this
world. The reasons are more often social and political.
Congratulations to entire CERN team for such a stupendous discovery!
This momentous discovery of Higgs Boson will unravel many mysteries of
the Universe and complete our understanding on the subject.
The discovery of fundamental scalar around 125 GeV, is a great news. It was a true global effort. We hope more such discoveries in near future. Congratulations to all.
It is disconcerting that some people are lamenting the money spent on CERN experiments. First of all unlike India the money spent at CERN actually for productive purposes and not to line politician and businessmen pockets in the form of bribe or kickback in public projects. If we go with the logic of these people then humans should stop seeking for knowledge sake unless that knowledge can be proved to have direct link to end world hunger or uplift the economy! I wonder when Newton made his discoveries or Einstein devised theory of relativity they did it with ending world hunger in mind. However now we know that over the years Newton's discoveries or Einstein research led to many inventions that indeed contributed to making our world better place to live. No wonder India is abysmally behind in scientific research in contrast to per-independence time when SN Bose devised quantum statistics that led to boson sub-atomic particle discovery or CV Raman research that led to a Noble prize.
I find it a bit amusing that some people are quoting ancient scriptures to allude that the Higgs boson existence was predicted in the scriptures. Every time a major scientific discovery is made such religious crackpots would try to prove that all scientific answers lie in the religion. Why don't these people then make all the future predictions of other discoveries to be made such as whether additional dimensions beyond our three dimensions exist, or if there are parallel universes, or devise a theory that unifies all different types of forces that exist in the universe. We might be better off not try to mix religion and scientific quests - one is a spiritual quest and the other is a exploration for knowledge of the physical universe.
In these troubled economic times it is a sheer waste of precious money! Who cares if Higgs-Boson particles existent or not? I for one is troubled that Dr. S. N. Bose who discovered his name sake particle almost a century back, never got his due! My larger point with a colossal waste of money, at the end of the day this discovery itself will not feed the hungry. The money spent could have lifted some part of Globe be it is Africa or Asia out of abject poverty. What is next? If proved beyond reasonable doubt, maybe Dr. Higgs will get his Nobel prize, before it is too late.
One thing I cannot understand is that if the Higgs Field is made up of the Higgs Bosons, and those bosons decay rapidly into other particles (hence are difficult to ordinarily find and need this large an experiment), then how come the other particles continue to have mass after the boson has disappeared - how does the Higgs field then sustain itself to be able to continue to give mass to the other particles, when the Higgs Boson itself has decayed?
great job
Media reports are replete with references to Peter Higgs, the British physicist who predicted the existence of such a particle in the early 1960s. But, that a boson - one of the two fundamental classes of subatomic particles - is named after Satyendra Nath Bose who preceded Higgs seems to have got buried deeper than the 27km tunnel under the Franco-Swiss border that hosts science's biggest hunt ever.
S. N. Bose’s work on particle statistics (c. 1922), which clarified the behaviour of photons (the particles of light in an enclosure) and opened the door to new ideas on statistics of Microsystems that obey the rules of quantum theory, was one of the top ten achievements of 20th century science and could be considered in the Nobel Prize class, which he never got.
It is a great discovery after 5o years of labourious researches by the Scientists; it is an exciting outcome with the same significance that of the Copernican Heliocentric Revolution and Charles Darwin’s Evolution by Natural Selection that had confirmed the non-existence of all powerful or simply, supernatural Power, as an engineer and care-taker of the whole Universe or the multi-Universe. The most significance of this discovery is that nothing exists beyond the cognition of human beings through scientific experiments.
But it is also time for the religious groups and fundamentalists to utilise this Higgs Boson discovery by citing their primitive religious scriptures and arguing that my religion has revealed already, some thousands years ago, this discovery. They attempt to steal this GREATEST DISCOVERY to send to their RELIGIOUS POT which contains already many putrid and decomposed arguments such as that even nuclear and atomic Energy is discussed in their Religion; they try to searc
Congratulations to all the scientists world over who were involved in this experiment.
Still more miles required for discovery entire universe! This might be a drop or two!But,human can do max to this extend!
Congrats to scientist for this discovery!
It feels good to see Scientists making great strides in finding a sub atomic particle called "God Particle". But its even a greater feeling to see the Spiritualist of the past have seen "God". Once Scientist and Spiritualist (Vedantist)go hand-in-hand, more progress can be made at a faster pace. How this Universe Functions, are well documented in Vedanta.
If there is no mass,there is no gravitational force.The mass is created by force of energy.Once mass is created,the gravitational force starts acting to create movement to combine particles.Is this what is going on? As a layman,I am trying to understand.
If this is the particle ,that can control all nuclear arsenals in the world and can control the weapons then this huge expenditure is worthful for rudimentary matter should have vast energy or the otherway i suppose
The Hindu chose correct title for the observation: Discovered a new particle that could be a god particle. I think more experiments should be put in place to test whether is it true. It will show in-depth details about how masses are created in the universe. However, we should ask what would be the next step in knowing the existence of a particle that influence the other particles to gain masses.
Also, One more word: Please avoid self proclaiming here. The CERN scientists did extrodinary things that we should not take it lightly. If you publish somewhere somehow sometime, its fine and good. Don't dilute the current moment. Thanks
Congratulations! CERN. Our Hindu Vedas and epics have all the past,
present and future information.
It is indeed a matter of great joy that the science fraternity has
managed to reach a milestone in the field of Quantum Physics. But on
the other hand, we also should realize the world now thrives on
'socially beneficial' research. The primary motto of any science and
technology should be to make human life simpler or better. I cannot
think of a single subatomic physics research in the last century which
has made any major contribution to day to day human life. We have to
note that these are projects which gobble a few hundred billion
Euros/Dollars to figure out how mass was created during the Big Bang.
How will it benefit our society in the near future, at least I cannot
think of one invention which can involve a Higgs-Boson particle in the
foreseeable future? Is it necessary for spending so much of resources,
monetary and human, just to expand our understanding at subatomic
level. While the whole world is in the cusp of another economic
collapse, this research was least affordable.
Congratulations to the entire staff at CERN. Aside from the monumental discovery and opening of new, unknown fields for study and research, it is the scientific spirit of enquiry - a uniquely human trait, present at CERN, and in the scientific community across the entire world that made these events possible. This community at CERN and across the world crosses all boundaries, skin colors, beliefs, and nationalities. Only humans (at least, some of them) can ask questions and seek answers that are rational - and the answers are confirmed by experiment. One has to reflect at the past and the individuals in the past that feared this scientific enquiry and experiment, and concocted/upheld nonsense, and the vast majority held/still hold beliefs that is close to nonsense: one feared the questions, the other feared to ask questions. May the questions never cease.
life is a mystery.Univers is mystery mystery will it be for ever. all academic scientific to the curious mind. will the correct answer be known proven agreed upon.
It's fascinating that the Higgs Boson particle derives part of its name from Satyendra Nath Bose. More mind boggling is the world of particle physics with Boson, Muons, Neutrinos, and more. Congratulations to all the scientists world over who were involved in this experiment.
This is indeed a great moment in human civilization and its understanding of the universe. Per news report there are hints of more such Higgs like particles waiting to be discovered. Apparently CERN results are based on two or three of dozen different ways or channels that a Higgs boson could be produced and decayed. There are hints that some of these channels are overproducing Higgs and the others are under producing, clues maybe that there are more than the Standard model at work. CERN would investigating rest of the channels over the coming months and years. So far the Large Hedron collider is working at half its designed capacity, by the end of this year the collider would be shut down for two years for repairs that will allow it to perform close to its full capacity when it reopens when many more thrilling discoveries may be made.
There is a story in Hinduism on how Sage Vishwamitra attained the knowledge of Brahman(Ever Prevailing) and Hence called as Brahmarishi. He Described that in beautiful verses Known as Gayatri Mantra:
Om: I Salute, that prevails in Bhu bhuva suvah (Protons,Electrons & Neutrons) Tat (That) Savitu (Brightest) Varenyam(Having Greatest Power) Bhargo (highly spreading radiance (similar to nucleus)) Devasya (That lord) Dhimahi(meditate) Dhi (mind) yo nah(towards) Prachadoyat (put in motion). OR he says "Let us Meditate on the Greatest, Brightest, Highly spreading Particle that exists in protons, electrons and neutrons to achieve our Goal"
Just a Thought!
Today's discovery of a scalar particle at the CERN is a true global effort. It seems we have identified the last missing piece of the Standard model of the Particle Physics. Congratulations to all.
Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose > "Boson" should also be commemorated.
The scientists are reaching new frontiers of physics. So if God's
particle could be produced in a laboratary located on the face of our
earth, what the scientists are trying to prove? It can not be none other
than the fact that God is not there some where in the Universe in
isolation. He is in the life of every living soul.
This was waiting to happen and now it happened. every scientific theory will face its challenge as scientific research probes deeper into the mysteries of the universe.
The confirmation (99%) of Higgs Boson is overwhelming for entire class
of rationalists irrespective of subject they specialize in i.e. physical
scientists, psychologists, social scientists, religious scientists, philosophers, etc. etc. Indeed a second small yet giant leap of man.
Congrates!!!!! team CERN.
Excellent Discovery of 21st century.
Kudos to all Scientists!
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Why is there no mention of Satyendra Nath Bose ---the boson part of Higgsboson? Is it because he was an Indian? Because the Americans announced it last week? That Higgs is a Britisher?
What to say more than Heartiest congratulations to the team. The biggest
finding of last century I guess. Awesome. 50 years of continuous
research and finally they have claimed its presence.
Great achievement. More for kids to learn in their school. Fun apart, I
hope the next major achievement for CERN scientists would be to succeed
in achieving surplus energy from Fusion reaction.
I have no clue what happened to "The Hindu". Has anyone realise that in the word "Higgs boson", why "b" is not capitalised? Boson is supposed to mean "Bose + Einstein". The word "b" in boson must be capitalised. Typical western attitude of suppressing Indians and we are bowing to this.
It is really a splendid job done by the scientists..Kudos to them!!
I have a question by the way, that is this theory anyhow related to the string theory (or "theory of everything" conceptualised by Einstein and still under research, which tells that since everything in this universe has started by the big bang, so there must be a single law governing everyting in the universe, i.e. this theory has tried to merge the Newton's Gravitational Theory and the Maxwell's Theory of Electromagnetism to form a single theory which can deal with all the fundamental forces of the universe.It has tried to reconcile the general relativity with quantum mechanics and claims everything in the universe to be made up of tiny energy strings)? It will be of great help if someone replies to my question.
Really the 'God particle' is one of the biggest discovery of this human civilization, which will open its path which leads new discovery and explain mystery of the creation of Universe.
And so it appears God Particle, the Higgs Boson has been finally 'seen' (more than 99% certain). This is supposed to explain the masses of elementary particles and in fact all the masses--Why is there mass? A modified question:Why is there anything instead of Nothing? A Lateral thinking on God Particle: A new Religion may come up based on Higgs Boson. Again there will be believers and non believers. (There are already believers of Big Bang origin of Universe and then there are again non-believers. Temples willbe built CEERN (Geneva) will become as sacred as Benares, Mecca or Jerusalem. Life seems to be interesting....
Dr.V.S.Venkatavaradan
Sona College of technology
Salem636 005
the New dimension in particle Physics
Congratulations. I have already written following two papers and have presented in two separate International Conferences.
1. Gravitation Force Is The Ultimate Creator (2006)
2. In Scientific Terminology Source of Gravitational Wave Is God.
So, for me this is not a new discovery. My views and also views of some other scientists have been now proved experimentally. Congrats to entire team of CERN.
A new base camp established,no doubt.This will help the scientific world to reach new frontiers of knowledge in the field of particle physics.This perhaps has been possible due to technical excellence and determined effort by the researchers."Higgs field" or "Higg",the term, will be used as common word hereafter to define any thing which induces mass into a body.Salute to human spirit.
Not so fast.
Scientists MAY have found evidence for a new particle but it is indirect. Further, the Higgs Boson (or God Particle) is a hypothetical particle whose existence is part of what is called the Standard Model of particle physics. It is not mandated by any empirical requirement.
The next steps are: (1) verify that a new particle has indeed been found; and (2) it is sufficiently massive to be a candidate for "Higgsmanship". So we still have a long way to go.
Speaking personally, I feel there are more important questions in physics like the foundations of quantum physics and the meaning of reality.
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