Has the Higgs Boson Particle Field Been Hiding in Plain Sight? 163
sciencehabit writes with a link to the ScienceNow site, noting an article saying the Higgs boson may already have been found in previous observations of the known universe. A theorist at Michigan state is arguing that scientists may have already found evidence for the elusive particle. The key appears to be that the particles that make up the Higgs field are of various 'strengths', and some of those particles may tug on others very weakly. "The lightest Higgs can be very light indeed, but it would not have been seen at [CERN's Large Electron-Positron (LEP)], because LEP experimenters were looking for an energetic collision that made a Z that then spit out a Higgs. That wouldn't happen very often if the lightest Higgs and the Z hardly interact. 'Just within the simplest supersymmetric model, there's still room for Higgs that is missed,' Yuan says. However, this lightweight Higgs is not exactly the Higgs everyone is looking for, says Marcela Carena, a theorist at Fermilab. 'The Higgs they are talking about is not the one responsible for giving mass to the W and Z,' she says. It can't be because it hardly interacts with those particles, Carena says. Indeed, in Yuan's model, the role of mass-giver falls to one of the heavier Higgses, which is still heavier than the LEP limit, she notes."
the last place you look (Score:5, Funny)
Re:the last place you look (Score:2, Funny)
I knew it wasn't me!!!
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:2, Funny)
"In physics, the photon is the elementary particle responsible for electromagnetic phenomena. It is the carrier of electromagnetic radiation of all wavelengths, including gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet light, visible light, infrared light, microwaves, and radio waves."
For some reason, my feeble mind never really made that connection.
Re:Higgses (Score:5, Funny)
Nasty Hobbitses...and their mean Higgses make Precious feel so heavy.
Re:Higgses (Score:5, Funny)
You say that now, but she'll look better after a couple of drinkses.
Re:the last place you look (Score:5, Funny)
Tastes like an orange too.
Actually, come to think of it, I think this might be an orange.
Re:For those that went "wtf?!" (Score:3, Funny)
will CERN become a theme park now? (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe we could put it to good use as a theme park ride instead. Imaging all those superconducting magnets accelerating your cart up to 99.99% of the speed of light - what a ride that would be.
With the relativistic effects, you might even be able to come out of the ride before you went in.
The fact that it operates in a vacuum might be a problem ... have to think about that.
Re:the last place you look (Score:4, Funny)
They were looking where? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:the last place you look (Score:5, Funny)
Yep ... Were all doomed!
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson_(fiction) [wikipedia.org] "In the science fantasy series Lexx, one character points out that although all-out nuclear war sometimes destroys all life on planets as advanced as Earth, it is much more common for such planets to be obliterated by physicists attempting to determine the precise mass of the Higgs boson particle, since the moment the mass is known the planet will instantly collapse into a nugget of super-dense matter "roughly the size of a pea."
Re:Higgses (Score:1, Funny)
Higgses
You say that now, but she'll look better after a couple of drinkses.
Re:For those that went "wtf?!" (Score:4, Funny)
Re:For those that went "wtf?!" (Score:5, Funny)
Re:the last place you look (Score:2, Funny)
What's this ... ? (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, look! It's a Higgs boson!
Re:Yikes! (Score:3, Funny)
This isn't the Higgs Boson you're looking for (Score:3, Funny)
You can go about your business.
Move along.
Re:the last place you look (Score:3, Funny)
Hiding right in front of us? (Score:5, Funny)
Which suggests that we are one step closer to actually creating an infinite improbability drive - the ramifications of which are... well I don't know, but they are at least big, possibly huge.
Re:For those that went "wtf?!" (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:5, Funny)
Simple .
I don't think that word means what you think it means.
Time long ago, galaxy far away (Score:3, Funny)
Re:the last place you look (Score:3, Funny)
Doesn't the drier affect have to do with putting two pairs of black socks into the washer and getting three black socks and one blue one out of the drier? Perhaps you were thinking of the DB25 affect where when reassembling an elderly computer system you will -- with 50% probability -- find that when attempting to make the last connection you are trying to plug a male connector into a male socket?
Re:Yikes! (Score:3, Funny)
Perhaps, but in the process we'd obtain important new data that greatly reduces the uncertainty in the parameters of the Drake Equation.
Re:For those that went "wtf?!" (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Dear fucking assholes (Slashdot editors) (Score:3, Funny)
I now feel fully qualified to provide insightful comments and am ready to receive your positive mod points!
Re:For those that went "wtf?!" (Score:3, Funny)
Re:For those that went "wtf?!" (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:4, Funny)
It's all relative, friend.
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:2, Funny)
(At first glacne, I saw "grues" in place of your "gluons" for some reason).
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:3, Funny)
Absolutely!