‘God particle’ sighted at last?

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British physicist Peter Higgs (right) congratulates Fabiola Gianotti, Switzerland, on Wednesday—AP

British researchers from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research) said here Wednesday they have found a new subatomic particle consistent with the elusive Higgs Boson, which is thought to give mass to elementary particles.

“These results mark a significant breakthrough in our understanding of the fundamental laws that govern the universe,” said Prof. John Womersley, chief executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, at a press conference. “Discovery is the important word. That is confirmed. It’s a momentous day for science.”
The particle was proposed in 1964 by three groups of physicists, including Britain’s Peter Higgs, after whom it was named.
The announcement was linked to a seminar at CERN in Geneva, where the latest results from the ATLAS and CMS experiments were revealed. It came after a video leak Tuesday night hinted the new particle might have been found.
The results were labelled as preliminary, based on data collected in 2011 and 2012, with the 2012 data still under analysis. But scientists are 99.99 per cent sure the new particle is Higgs Boson, or the “God particle,” as it’s better known.
“Obviously there is still much, much more to do at LHC — we need to confirm this new particle is (why) some particles have tangible mass while others are insubstantial... Peter Higgs and other scientists predicted a particle like this one must exist for our current understanding of the universe to work,” Prof. Womersley said.
“It’s hard not to get excited by these results,” said CERN research director Sergio Bertolucci. “We stated last year that in 2012 we would either find a new Higgs-like particle or exclude the existence of the Standard Model Higgs. With all necessary caution, it looks to me that we are at a branching point: the observation of this new particle indicates the path for the future towards a more detailed understanding of what we’re seeing in the data.”
Sir Peter Knight, president of the Institute of Physics, described the Higgs discovery “as significant to physics as the discovery of DNA was to biology.” He added: “This is the physics version of the discovery of DNA. It sets the course for a brand new adventure in our efforts to understand the fabric of our universe.”
Peter Higgs, who was in Geneva Wednesday, expressed delight. “I never expected this to happen in my lifetime and shall be asking my family to put some champagne in the fridge,” said the 83-year-old scientist.