Scientists close in on the ‘God Particle’

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Physicists said Tuesday they had narrowed the search for the elusive sub-atomic Higgs boson particle that would confirm the way science describes the universe.

Experiments at Europe’s giant atom smasher have “reduced the window where scientists think they will find the Higgs boson,” also known as the “God Particle”, said Bruno Mansoulie, a researcher at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN).
The Higgs boson is the missing link in the so-called Standard Model of physics, which explains how the basic building blocks of all matter fit together. Its existence — if confirmed — would explain in a single stroke the mystery of what gives this invisible constellation of particles mass.
Such a discovery would rank in importance with major breakthroughs of the last century, going back to Einstein’s first formulation of quantum physics.
For now, however, the Higgs boson exists only in theory. If it turns out to be a mirage, it would force scientists back to the drawing board to rewrite the textbook of particle physics.
CERN reported Tuesday the midpoint results from two separate experiments that independently arrived at the same conclusion, pointing to activity within a certain range of mass that would be consistent with the Higgs boson.
The webcast presentation was made before several hundred scientists in a atmosphere charged with excitement, punctuated with applause.
Taken together, the results provide “tantalising hints” that the sought-after particle is hiding inside a narrow range of mass, CERN said in a statement. “It’s too early to draw definitive conclusions, we need more data,” said Fabiola Gianotti, head of the ATLAS experiment.
“But we have established a solid foundation for passionately exciting months ahead,” she said, adding that a definitive answer was expected with 12 months.
British physicist Peter Higgs conceived the idea of the boson — a particle that carries force — in the mid-1960s to explain why much of matter produced by the Big Bang has mass, and can therefore coalesce. Now 82, he is seen as a Nobel Prize contender.
— AFP, Reuters