The Higgs Boson

[topsecret221]

Has it been found?

http://press.web.cern.ch/press/Press.../PR17.12E.html
Here's the official press release. Discuss.

[DemolitionSquid]

Maybe we can stop calling it the "God particle" now that we don't need blind faith to find it.

[TheEconomist]

Ironic you should put it that way since this act of blind faith with no previous evidence actually turned out to be true and people knew about it long before science did.

[Hawki]

And...already this topic has gone off the rails. That's pretty impressive.

[sandwich_bird]

I'm still sceptical. It's too easy to get overexcited by something that could by entirely different.

[Gradius]

It is definitely a new particle, of that there is no doubt. Whether it's the higgs boson or something else is still up for debate. Now we just have to wait for the exciting part and for them to finish analyzing the data.

[TheEconomist]

And...already this topic has gone off the rails. That's pretty impressive.

As much as I'd love to add another notch of topic derails, this topic is far from off track.

[topsecret221]

Well, as the scientists put it, "we have found a particle that bears likeness to a Higgs Boson (but which one?)

As soon as the data is finished being analyzed, likely by the end of this year, we will have our official results. The discovery of the particle is not debatable, but what it's function is can be questioned for a little while.

Looking at the way that the data has formed (and there's a lot of data... 7 hours of it can compile a stack of CDs that stands about 20 feet high), it's similarities to the Higgs are enough for me to at least be satisfied with the idea that it is the Higgs.

Of course, only time will bring true confirmation.

[TheEconomist]

Don't take this the wrong way, but I have a hard time mustering up the will to discuss the complexities of the universe with someone that has a pokeball in their avatar. This forum has been overtaken by Peter Pan's sidekicks.

Now that I've gotten that back on track. Let's get back to the topic at hand.



I kid, Please DO NOT ruin this topic with ponies.

[topsecret221]

As opposed to talking to someone with a silly photo of Dustin Browder?
Or someone with a fictional species?

It's just an avatar. Would you rather I change it to the formula for the Standard Model or the Law of Gravitation?

Now, please, I'd like some intelligent online discussion for once. This is the biggest thing to happen in physics in the last 40 years.