MessageToEagle.com - Probably the hottest topic on the energy frontier of particle physics is the search for the Higgs boson.
Several large experimental groups are hot on the trail of this elusive subatomic particle which is thought to explain the
origins of particle mass.
Researchers at the US' Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory report signs of long sought "God Particle", observed at
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland and reported in December 2011.
After analyzing the full data set from the Tevatron accelerator, the scientists found evidence that might be interpreted as
coming from an elusive Higgs boson particle, with a mass in the region of 115 to 135 GeV, considered to be a 'missing link' in current theories of physics.
The particle is a crucial factor in science's understanding of the universe, but it has never been observed by experiments.
Physicists claim evidence of a new particle only if the probability that the data could be due to a statistical fluctuation
is less than 1 in 740, or three sigmas. A discovery is claimed only if that probability is less than 1 in 3.5 million, or five sigmas.
None of the hints announced so far from the Tevatron or LHC experiments, however, are strong enough to claim evidence for the Higgs boson.
"The end game is approaching in the hunt for the Higgs boson," said Jim Siegrist, DOE Associate Director of Science for High Energy Physics.
"This is an important milestone for the Tevatron experiments, and demonstrates the continuing importance of independent
measurements in the quest to understand the building blocks of nature."
"I am thrilled with the pace of progress in the hunt for the Higgs boson. CDF and DZero scientists from around the world have pulled out all the stops to
reach this very nice and important contribution to the Higgs boson search," said Fermilab Director Pier Oddone.
"The end game is approaching in the hunt for the Higgs boson," said Jim Siegrist, DOE Associate Director of Science for High Energy Physics.
"There is still much work ahead before the scientific community can say for sure whether the Higgs boson exists," said Dmitri
Denisov, DZero co-spokesperson and physicist at Fermilab.
"Based on these exciting hints, we are working as quickly as possible to further improve our analysis methods and squeeze the last ounce out of Tevatron data."
"The two collaborations independently combed through hundreds of trillions of proton-antiproton collisions recorded by their
experiments to arrive at this exciting result."
Higgs bosons, if they exist, are short-lived and can decay in many different ways. Just as a vending machine might return the
same amount of change using different combinations of coins, the Higgs can decay into different combinations of particles.
Discovering the Higgs boson relies on observing a statistically significant excess of the particles into which the Higgs decays
and those particles must have corresponding kinematic properties that allow for the mass of the Higgs to be reconstructed.
The 6.4km Tevatron accelerator at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois.
Tevatron typically produced about 10m proton-antiproton collisions per second. Image courtesy of http://www.fnal.gov
"There is still much work ahead before the scientific community can say for sure whether the Higgs boson exists," said Dmitri
Denisov, DZero co-spokesperson and physicist at Fermilab. "Based on these exciting hints, we are working as quickly as possible
to further improve our analysis methods and squeeze the last ounce out of Tevatron data."
Only high-energy particle colliders such as the Tevatron and LHC can recreate the energy conditions found in the universe shortly after the Big Bang.
"Without something like the Higgs boson giving fundamental particles mass, the whole world around us would be very different
from what we see today," said Giovanni Punzi, CDF co-spokesperson and physicist at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics, or
INFN, in Pisa, Italy. "Physicists have known for a long time that the Higgs or something like it must exist, and we are eager to finally pin this
phenomenon down and start learning more about it."
What is a Higgs Boson? Credits: FermiLab
If a Higgs boson is created in a high-energy particle collision, it immediately decays into lighter more stable particles before
even the world's best detectors and fastest computers can snap a picture of it. To find the Higgs boson, physicists retraced the
path of these secondary particles and ruled out processes that mimic its signal.
"This result represents years of work from hundreds of scientists around the world," said Rob Roser, CDF co-spokesperson and
physicist at Fermilab.
"But we are not done yet - together with our LHC colleagues, we expect 2012 to be the year we know whether the Higgs exists or
not, and assuming it is discovered, we will have first indications that it behaves as predicted by the Standard Model."
Entering The Worlds Of Moving Holograms
Moving holograms have long been considered science fiction, but now with new technology emerging you will
soon be able to see how holograms do almost everything, from watching TV, playing chess, walking the dog or even talking to you, giving you advice.
Holographic technology is not as new as many people think.
Abnormal Star Discovered In The 'Forbidden Zone'
A team of astrophysicists from Germany, France and Italy have discovered in the constellation Leo is an old star.
The star's existence raised at once many questions for scientists.
The object is definitely not as its "contemporaries" that appeared immediately after the Big Bang event.
Thermonuclear Burning In A Neutron Star Detected For The First Time!
It's a very important discovery!
For the first time, an international team of scientists have detected all phases of thermonuclear burning in a
neutron star, located close to the center of the galaxy in the globular cluster Terzan 5.
Possible Water In The Atmosphere Of A Super-Earth
Four CfA astronomers, Zachory Berta, David Charbonneau, Jean-Michel Desert, and Jonathan Irwin, together with six colleagues,
used the Hubble Space Telescope to probe the atmosphere around the transiting super-Earth known as GJ1214b.
This exoplanet has a mass of 6.5 Earth-masses and a radius of 2.7 Earth-radii, and it orbits a small M-dwarf star (its diameter
is only 21% of the Sun's).
Astronomical Mystery - Tremendous Explosion And Appearance Of Odd Rings
Twenty five years ago, on 1987 February 23, the brightest supernova of modern times was observed in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
The collision occurred at speeds near 60 million kilometers per hour and shock-heats the ring material causing it to glow.
Over time, astronomers have watched and waited for the expanding debris from this tremendous stellar explosion to crash into previously expelled material...
Doesn't Secret Dark Matter Exist?
The more scientists study dark matter they know lesser and are not particularly optimistic about their results.
After completing this study, we know less about dark matter than we did before," said Matt Walker, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
A mysterious and still unknown substance is totally invisible in the Universe and reveals its presence only through its gravitational pull...
Earth Is In The Middle Of A Space-Time Vortex
Earth sits in the middle of a space-time vortex.
Einstein predicted this almost 100 years ago and he was right.
Space-time around Earth seems to be distorted, just a general relativity predicts.
The Eyes Of A Future Alien Astronomer - What Will They See?
Have you ever wondered what the Universe will look like for a future alien astronomer?
It will in fact be entirely different from what it is today.
One trillion years from now, an alien astronomer in our galaxy will have great difficulties figuring out how the universe began.
The Milky Way will have merged with the Andromeda galaxy to form the Milkomeda galaxy. Many of its stars, including our Sun, will have burned out.
Violent Dragon Clash Billions Of Years Ago
NGC 5907 is sometimes called the "Splinter" or Knife Edge Galaxy because of its unusual appearance.
It is a spiral galaxy lying in the Dragon constellation,
about 40 million light-years from Earth that could have been formed through a gigantic collision of galaxies, 8 to 9 billion years ago.
Researchers Developed A Very Accurate Map Of Milky Way's Magnetic Field
The Milky Way is hard to map because we are sitting on the edge of the galaxy looking through it.
However, we know that spiral galaxies like the Milky Way have magnetic fields that follow a particular pattern so we were able
use polarised light to map the magnetic fields...
MessageToEagle.com - Probably the hottest topic on the energy frontier of particle physics is the search for the Higgs boson.
Moving holograms have long been considered science fiction, but now with new technology emerging you will
soon be able to see how holograms do almost everything, from watching TV, playing chess, walking the dog or even talking to you, giving you advice.
Holographic technology is not as new as many people think.
A team of astrophysicists from Germany, France and Italy have discovered in the constellation Leo is an old star.
The star's existence raised at once many questions for scientists.
The object is definitely not as its "contemporaries" that appeared immediately after the Big Bang event.
It's a very important discovery!
For the first time, an international team of scientists have detected all phases of thermonuclear burning in a
neutron star, located close to the center of the galaxy in the globular cluster Terzan 5.
Four CfA astronomers, Zachory Berta, David Charbonneau, Jean-Michel Desert, and Jonathan Irwin, together with six colleagues,
used the Hubble Space Telescope to probe the atmosphere around the transiting super-Earth known as GJ1214b.
This exoplanet has a mass of 6.5 Earth-masses and a radius of 2.7 Earth-radii, and it orbits a small M-dwarf star (its diameter
is only 21% of the Sun's).
Twenty five years ago, on 1987 February 23, the brightest supernova of modern times was observed in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
The more scientists study dark matter they know lesser and are not particularly optimistic about their results.
Earth sits in the middle of a space-time vortex.
Einstein predicted this almost 100 years ago and he was right.
Space-time around Earth seems to be distorted, just a general relativity predicts.
Have you ever wondered what the Universe will look like for a future alien astronomer?
NGC 5907 is sometimes called the "Splinter" or Knife Edge Galaxy because of its unusual appearance.
It is a spiral galaxy lying in the Dragon constellation,
about 40 million light-years from Earth that could have been formed through a gigantic collision of galaxies, 8 to 9 billion years ago.
The Milky Way is hard to map because we are sitting on the edge of the galaxy looking through it.
However, we know that spiral galaxies like the Milky Way have magnetic fields that follow a particular pattern so we were able
use polarised light to map the magnetic fields...