Catching The God Particle
Or at least very close to it as both ATLAS and CMS detectors at LHC seem to have data hinting the Higgs boson has been detected. If the current experiments hinting at it can be repeated with higher significance then this could be it. Many physicist are already convinced as the two independent experiments on two LHC detectors not only discovered it but hinted at the same mass at just about 125 gigaelectronvolts. Before this was announced many expected that the first real chance at detection will come after the LHC restart next spring or maybe only after it'll go to even higher energies in 2015. It's also just a beginning of what we are expecting to find and a proof that theory is a good at pointing where to look.
This is a big thing. It fills up the Standard Model and shows where the mass comes from - the final piece combining electromagnetism and the weak force.
I know it's also a little confusing with Higgs particle and Higgs field and how they are really connected to the mass of particles and why some particles have mass and others don't. Good thing io9 have a things like Ask a Physicist column (it truly justifies its existence) that explains all that.
Particle physics has been really awesome this year. Lets hope at least one - preferably this or FTL neutrinos - will pan out. Think what LHC can do next.
This is a big thing. It fills up the Standard Model and shows where the mass comes from - the final piece combining electromagnetism and the weak force.
I know it's also a little confusing with Higgs particle and Higgs field and how they are really connected to the mass of particles and why some particles have mass and others don't. Good thing io9 have a things like Ask a Physicist column (it truly justifies its existence) that explains all that.
Particle physics has been really awesome this year. Lets hope at least one - preferably this or FTL neutrinos - will pan out. Think what LHC can do next.