The search for the Higgs boson | The Economist
- 5 years ago
CERN announces sightings, but not proof, of possible Higgs boson signatures in the LHC, and our correspondents take a look inside the world's largest microscope
Subscribe NOW to The Economist: http://econ.st/1Fsu2Vj
Scientists at CERN, the world's biggest particle physics laboratory, have announced that they may have glimpsed the Higgs boson.
First predicted by Peter Higgs in 1964, the Higgs is the missing piece from the Standard Model of particle physics and it would help explain why matter has mass. For scientists this is one of the most tantalizing results yet to appear from the world's biggest microscope. But it is far from certain - just a hint in the data of two separate but similar experiments.
Atlas and CMS, parts of the Large Hadron Collider or LHC. Located 100 metres below the earth, Atlas and CMS are huge machines each about five stories tall. They surround segments of the coldest and fastest proton beam on earth. Filled with millions of extremely precise sensors, Atlas and CMS read the debris from exploding particles. These detectors show researchers what happens when matter collides with matter at nearly the speed of light.
The LHC experiment begins with the universe's simplest element - hydrogen. Stored in a modestly sized 10 liter bottle. Here 1 billion protons per second are ejected into the first stages of the LHC. A single bottle of hydrogen gas provides enough protons for six months of study. Accelerators boost the protons until they are traveling near the speed of light then they are injected in opposite directions into the LHC, a 27 kilometer tube surrounded by powerful and super cold magnets, which steer the high-energy beam. The two beams of protons are kept separate, circling the system 11,000 times every second and at four points the beams intersect in vast detectors like Atlas and CMS.
When two protons collide head-on components that only come into existence that these incredible energies fly outward and their decaying trails are recorded by the sensors. If the Higgs exists it will be seen here. But even in the extreme conditions of the LHC the probability of perfect head-on particle collisions is still quite low.
The LHC produces so much data 15 million gigabytes by the end of 2011 alone. That CERNs massive computer banks located here and around the world can analyze only a small percentage of it. In fact the world wide web was invented two decades ago at CERN to provide a network for processing such a unique data set.
The results from this year are preliminary but promising. Not until 2012 do researchers believe they will know for sure whether the Higgs boson exists or not. But the hints of Higgs are only the beginning. If the famous boson is confirmed plenty more work awaits LHC physicists.
The Higgs is the most publicized of CERN subatomic quarry but it does not answer all the questions they are asking.
If the latest findings in the Higgs search hold up it will mean that the LHC is powerful enough to shed light on these other physical mysteries and that will mean more work for the thousands of physicists on CERN's campus.
Get more The Economist
Follow us: https://twitter.com/TheEconomist
Like us: https://www.facebook.com/TheEconomist
View photos: https://instagram.com/theeconomist/
The Economist videos give authoritative insight and opinion on international news, politics, business, finance, science, technology and the connections between them.
Subscribe NOW to The Economist: http://econ.st/1Fsu2Vj
Scientists at CERN, the world's biggest particle physics laboratory, have announced that they may have glimpsed the Higgs boson.
First predicted by Peter Higgs in 1964, the Higgs is the missing piece from the Standard Model of particle physics and it would help explain why matter has mass. For scientists this is one of the most tantalizing results yet to appear from the world's biggest microscope. But it is far from certain - just a hint in the data of two separate but similar experiments.
Atlas and CMS, parts of the Large Hadron Collider or LHC. Located 100 metres below the earth, Atlas and CMS are huge machines each about five stories tall. They surround segments of the coldest and fastest proton beam on earth. Filled with millions of extremely precise sensors, Atlas and CMS read the debris from exploding particles. These detectors show researchers what happens when matter collides with matter at nearly the speed of light.
The LHC experiment begins with the universe's simplest element - hydrogen. Stored in a modestly sized 10 liter bottle. Here 1 billion protons per second are ejected into the first stages of the LHC. A single bottle of hydrogen gas provides enough protons for six months of study. Accelerators boost the protons until they are traveling near the speed of light then they are injected in opposite directions into the LHC, a 27 kilometer tube surrounded by powerful and super cold magnets, which steer the high-energy beam. The two beams of protons are kept separate, circling the system 11,000 times every second and at four points the beams intersect in vast detectors like Atlas and CMS.
When two protons collide head-on components that only come into existence that these incredible energies fly outward and their decaying trails are recorded by the sensors. If the Higgs exists it will be seen here. But even in the extreme conditions of the LHC the probability of perfect head-on particle collisions is still quite low.
The LHC produces so much data 15 million gigabytes by the end of 2011 alone. That CERNs massive computer banks located here and around the world can analyze only a small percentage of it. In fact the world wide web was invented two decades ago at CERN to provide a network for processing such a unique data set.
The results from this year are preliminary but promising. Not until 2012 do researchers believe they will know for sure whether the Higgs boson exists or not. But the hints of Higgs are only the beginning. If the famous boson is confirmed plenty more work awaits LHC physicists.
The Higgs is the most publicized of CERN subatomic quarry but it does not answer all the questions they are asking.
If the latest findings in the Higgs search hold up it will mean that the LHC is powerful enough to shed light on these other physical mysteries and that will mean more work for the thousands of physicists on CERN's campus.
Get more The Economist
Follow us: https://twitter.com/TheEconomist
Like us: https://www.facebook.com/TheEconomist
View photos: https://instagram.com/theeconomist/
The Economist videos give authoritative insight and opinion on international news, politics, business, finance, science, technology and the connections between them.