標題: CERN, Higgs boson exists? Mmm...99.99994% YES !!! [打印本頁]
人稱「上帝粒子」希格斯粒子，初現身影.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/scie ... 20120704-21hac.html
It texists.
In a discovery that throws light on the very fabric of space and time, a new subatomic particle has been found that is consistent with the long-sought-after Higgs boson.
Making one of the most anticipated announcements in modern science tonight, researchers using the world's biggest atom smasher near Geneva announced they had observed the new particle in collisions in the giant instrument.
"We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature," Rolf Heuer, director general of CERN" said.
More studies, however, will be needed to pin down the exact nature of the boson, which is the most massive ever seen, scientist said.
"This is indeed a new particle," Joe Incandela, spokesman for the CMS detector said. "The implications are very significant and it is precisely for this reason that we must be extremely diligent in all our studies and cross-checks."
The Higgs boson is the last undiscovered particle predicted to exist by the standard model of matter that scientists have been hunting for almost 50 years.
It is thought to give all other particles their mass, and some have dubbed it the the God particle because of its importance, to the annoyance of scientists.
Researchers will now look to see if the new particle is the one predicted by the standard model.
On the other hand, it could turn out to be and even more exotic version.
If this case, it would be a profound discovery, creating a revolution in physics, scientists said.
"It could be a gateway to the next phase of exploring the deepest parts of the fabric of the universe," Mr Incandela said.
It could be a portal to a exotic world of new particles and new dimensions.
Researchers using two huge detectors at the Large Hadron Collider announced the results of their searches at a joint scientific seminar in Geneva and Melbourne, where the International Conference on High Energy Physics is being held.
The two teams had been blinded to each other's data, to avoid influencing their independent analyses.
They each found strong evidence for the existence of a particle with a mass of 125-126 gigaelectronvolts – about 130 times the mass of a proton.
One of the main reasons the Large Hadron Collider was built deep underground near Geneva was to produce particle collisions with a high enough energy to create the fleeting Higgs boson.
For more than two years, beams of protons have been accelerated to almost the speed of light around the 27-kilometre ring deep underground and smashed into each other.
This recreated conditions similar to just after the Big Bang, when it was thought the Higgs boson appeared and turned the debris from the explosion into stars and galaxies.
The newly found boson is so short-lived it was only spotted from an excess of the lighter particles it decays into, including two photons.
Researchers said properties such as the exact mass, and spin, and the particles it decays into need to be studied to determine the boson's exact nature.
Some theories, such as supersymmetry, predict the existence of many new kinds of particles, including a variety of Higgs bosons.
It could explain the missing dark matter in the universe.
Australian researchers helped design and build parts of the ATLAS detector and helped analyse the results.
In December, the teams using the ATLAS and CMS detectors both said they had seen tantalising "hints" of a Higgs-like bosons.
Researchers declare a discovery only when a result has a statistical significance of five sigma, which means a less than one-in-a-million chance of it being just a fluke.
Last year's results had a three sigma confidence rating.
The new results are 4.9 sigma for the CMS detetcor and five sigma for ATLAS.
歐洲核子研究組織(CERN)昨日高調宣布，ATLAS及CMS兩個實驗項目的團隊成功在強子對撞實驗中，觀察到一種新粒子，與科學界尋覓近半世紀的「希格斯玻色子」特性一致，幾乎可以肯定就是這種又稱為「上帝粒子」的關鍵粒子，有助解開物質為何有質量的千古難題。
兩個研究小組昨日同時介紹各自研究成果，分別確認目前通過大型強子對撞機(LHC)取得的數據，發現了在125-126吉電子伏特品質區間存在一種新的粒子，ATLAS及CMS分別將發現的確定性設為「5-σ(Sigma)」及「4.9σ」(99.99994%)，即理論物理界可以確認「發現」的水準。
「上帝粒子」是粒子物理學「標準模型」理論的最後一塊拼圖。標準模型預測了62種基本粒子的存在，其中希格斯玻色子則是最後一種未被證明的。它與重力相互作用，令物體產生「重量」，其存在解釋物質為何擁有質量及形態，被視為構成萬物的最終元件。
標準模型預測，希格斯玻色子只能在不足1攸秒(10的負24次方秒)內保持完整，然後便會衰變成各種粒子。CERN在法國及瑞士接壤的邊境地底建造LHC，通過在長環形隧道撞擊兩束以接近光速移動的質子或鉛離子，然後分析撞擊產生的反應，尋找蛛絲馬跡。
「覓得物理學失落基石」
由2,100名科學家組成的ATLAS由因坎代拉領導，共有3,000名科學家的CMS則由賈諾蒂領導，兩組獨立團隊昨日同時宣布「觀察到」一種類近希格斯玻色子的次原子粒子。CERN主管霍耶爾在發布會上稱，「我們已覓得粒子物理學失落的基石」。不過，實驗完整分析結果預計要到7月底才能公布。
霍金賭輸 賠776元
希格斯玻色子是以1964年提出「希格斯機制」的英國物理學家希格斯命名。現年83歲的希格斯亦獲邀出席發布會，他期間一度摘下眼鏡、拿起紙巾擦拭雙眼。他說：「難以相信這事在我有生之年發生，得叫家人在冰箱準備香檳了。」著名物理學家霍金說︰「這是舉足輕重的實驗結果，希格斯理應獲頒諾貝爾獎。」曾與人打賭「上帝粒子」不存在的他不忘解窘，笑指是次發現害他損失100美元(約776港元)。
■路透社/綜合外電消息/彭博通訊社/新華社
http://paper.wenweipo.com/2012/07/05/GJ1207050008.htm
可以拿諾貝爾獎{:cool:}
Congratulations!
期待最終公開的報告