From CERN, another science press release with a “could” and “preliminary” caveat. Sigh. I expected fireworks. It is encouraging though. 5 sigma isn’t anything to sneeze at.
I have to wonder though, if the fact that CERN delayed this press release (from Monday when it became known) to today, the 4th of July, wasn’t a final dig at the legacy of the failed US effort with the superconducting supercollider. They write at the CERN page:
Higgs within reach
Our understanding of the universe is about to change…
The ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN today presented their latest results in the search for the long-sought Higgs boson. Both experiments see strong indications for the presence of a new particle, which could be the Higgs boson, in the mass region around 126 gigaelectronvolts (GeV).
The experiments found hints of the new particle by analysing trillions of proton-proton collisions from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2011 and 2012. The Standard Model of particle physics predicts that a Higgs boson would decay into different particles – which the LHC experiments then detect.
Both ATLAS and CMS gave the level of significance of the result as 5 sigma on the scale that particle physicists use to describe the certainty of a discovery.
One sigma means the results could be random fluctuations in the data, 3 sigma counts as an observation and a 5-sigma result is a discovery. The results presented today are preliminary, as the data from 2012 is still under analysis. The complete analysis is expected to be published around the end of July.
The press release:
CERN experiments observe particle consistent with long-sought Higgs boson
Geneva, 4 July 2012. At a seminar held at CERN1 today as a curtain raiser to the year’s major particle physics conference, ICHEP2012 in Melbourne, the ATLAS and CMS experiments presented their latest preliminary results in the search for the long sought Higgs particle. Both experiments observe a new particle in the mass region around 125-126 GeV.
“We observe in our data clear signs of a new particle, at the level of 5 sigma, in the mass region around 126 GeV. The outstanding performance of the LHC and ATLAS and the huge efforts of many people have brought us to this exciting stage,” said ATLAS experiment spokesperson Fabiola Gianotti, “but a little more time is needed to prepare these results for publication.”
“The results are preliminary but the 5 sigma signal at around 125 GeV we’re seeing is dramatic. This is indeed a new particle. We know it must be a boson and it’s the heaviest boson ever found,” said CMS experiment spokesperson Joe Incandela. “The implications are very significant and it is precisely for this reason that we must be extremely diligent in all of our studies and cross-checks.”
“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 the 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.”
The results presented today are labelled preliminary. They are based on data collected in 2011 and 2012, with the 2012 data still under analysis. Publication of the analyses shown today is expected around the end of July. A more complete picture of today’s observations will emerge later this year after the LHC provides the experiments with more data.
The next step will be to determine the precise nature of the particle and its significance for our understanding of the universe. Are its properties as expected for the long-sought Higgs boson, the final missing ingredient in the Standard Model of particle physics? Or is it something more exotic? The Standard Model describes the fundamental particles from which we, and every visible thing in the universe, are made, and the forces acting between them. All the matter that we can see, however, appears to be no more than about 4% of the total. A more exotic version of the Higgs particle could be a bridge to understanding the 96% of the universe that remains obscure.
“We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger statistics, which will pin down the new particle’s properties, and is likely to shed light on other mysteries of our universe.”
Positive identification of the new particle’s characteristics will take considerable time and data. But whatever form the Higgs particle takes, our knowledge of the fundamental structure of matter is about to take a major step forward.
Contact:
CERN press office, press.office@cern.ch
+41 22 767 34 32
+41 22 767 21 41
Further information:
UPDATE: My friend John Coleman at KUSI-TV in San Diego has produced an interesting video report based on input from the WUWT thread. Watch it here
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Well, it was 4.9 sigma, according to the webcast. 🙂 They didn’t quite reach the level they were shooting for.
And the spokesman stressed that it was very early days, and they still have a lot of work to do before they can isolate the new boson from the background.
Granted, I am no expert on this, and most of what he said flew right by. Still, exciting to listen to those guys talking about the efforts they go through to ensure that they have a valid result.
Sounds a bit like the warmists…
I mean, they’ve found something “consistent” with the Higgs pariticle. It’s like the Higgs particle, it could be, maybe. Notice there is a huge publicity burst now, and the general feeling is that the Higgs has been found, which will justify funding.
Expect this to be “walked back” slowly, when few are paying attention, it will dribble out, in the coming weeks and months. First, they’ll say, well, maybe not. And in some ways it’s inconsistent with…, in more ways than one it’s inconsistent, then, in most ways. Finally, it could not be. It isn’t. But people will still think pretty much that its been found, as little fanfare will accompany the walk back.
The complete analysis is expected to be published around the end of July.
Then they should have waited until then with the press release.
My job today will be to cover this story for our TV newscast here in San Diego. I have read and read and have some understanding. However, my News Director wants me to tell our viewers what this will mean to them, our socieity and our civilization. Understanding the very basics of the physics of the Universe is exciting, but does it have any practical payoff? In medicene, electronics, transportation, will there be any pay off? I don’t have a hint of the answer to these questions. I ask for help from the smarter-than-me readers of WUWT. Thanks
I just received an email from someone who works with the people over at CERN:
With current data, they were unable to verify the spin-angular momentum or rates of different modes of decay. This means it could be the Higgs, or it could be any of a few even more interesting things. I kinda hope they walk it back upon discovering that it has half a unit of spin and decays only into W-bosons. That would imply a discovery of Supersymmetry instead.
Don’t worry, Eric,
If these guys have to walk it back, they will put out as much fanfare as possible because that would probably mean it’s something even more exciting.
Actually (speaking as a particle physicist) the announcement is very well presented, and perfectly sound scientifically. They are not claiming too much, and are careful to say that this observation is consistent with what is expected for the Higgs (at least one strain of the theory) but aren’t jumping all over themselves like the press is. The actual scientific statements are suitably restrained. THIS is how science should be done – saying no more than the actual experimental evidence warrants.
As to the timing of the announcement, Anthony, there is no cause to look for digs being made. The announcement was timed to coincide with the opening reception of the major international high energy physics conference, which happened to be held on July 4. No slam in the timing at all.
Remind me what is the level of confidence for “very likely” that there is a Human influence on the climate?
I have a vague recollection that it was rather less than 5 sigma.
A victory of the standard model. Which brings up Lee Smolin’s book, “The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory”. He points out how the string theorists have dominated high energy physics/ cosmology through occupying the sources of funding and department politics. A situation he refers to as “sociology”. It a prime example of how a false consensus can be constructed in an academic environment.
The thing I find interesting is that they expect this to lead to answering questions based on Dark Matter or Dark Energy. I have been following the evolution of the Electric Universe Theory for a while now over at http://www.thunderbolts.info. If this theory is correct (based on plasma physics and not on gravity) a lot of things will change. The one thing that does not appear to change is the shunning of academics who question the existing theory.
According to the site, Wallis Thornhill proved that red shift is not representative of distance nor acceleration of stars away from the earth by looking at high redshift stars that in front of low red shift galaxies. The theory says there should not be any but the evidence shows otherwise. As a result he has been prevented from getting telescope time on some major facilities. Makes for interesting reading.
“Sniffing success
Fermilab’s Rob Roser, co-spokesperson for the Tevatron’s CDF experiment, said: “Our data strongly point toward the existence of the Higgs boson, but it will take results from the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider in Europe to establish a discovery.”
Stefan Soldner-Rembold, professor of particle physics at the University of Manchester, told BBC News: “The evidence is piling up… everything points in the direction that the Higgs is there.”
Continue reading the main story
Statistics of a ‘discovery’
Particle physics has an accepted definition for a discovery: a “five-sigma” (or five standard-deviation) level of certainty
The number of sigmas measures how unlikely it is to get a certain experimental result as a matter of chance rather than due to a real effect
Similarly, tossing a coin and getting a number of heads in a row may just be chance, rather than a sign of a “loaded” coin
A “three-sigma” level represents about the same likelihood as tossing about eight heads in a row
Five sigma, on the other hand, would correspond to tossing more than 20 in a row
Independent confirmation by other experiments turns five-sigma findings into accepted discoveries
He added: “At the Tevatron a lot of important work has been done over the last years… it has been essential for arriving at this stage.
“So yes, the Tevatron experiments should get recognition for that, even though the LHC will be the collider to provide the final proof that the Higgs exists.”
————————–
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18677808
AND I found this link interesting.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16116236
The best part is, they run the LHC on five wind turbines.
Cern: “Our understanding of the universe is about to change…”.
Sadly it isn’t. It would have done if they *hadn’t* found the Higgs. The Standard Model (ie: physics as normal) carries on at the moment, until they find something less expected.
This is no disrespect to an extraordinary result. They are trying to confirm theoretical predictions with empirical data. Data that isn’t fiddled, fudged or fabricated. Certain climate advocates should look at this effort and hang their heads in shame.
I’ll suspend judgement. I’m watching the show with interest, but I still remember that the solutions to the equations involve Legendre polynomials which show various possible spherical resonances. Since we’re playing with resonances in space-time, the whole thing is really fascinating.
Figuring out that protons weren’t elementary particles was a big step forward. It was clear that neutrons weren’t since they’d been observed to decay into a proton, electron and neutrino. Getting the zoo under control let them try to see the rules of combination. That’s what all the gazillion electron volts are for, to force combinations to occur.
Don’t forget, we’re still blind and trying to describe an elephant by feeling it. When you think that all of the Cosmos is made of this stuff, it’s really kind of cool, but understanding some of the rules is a long way from understanding the Cosmos.
“They run the LHC on five wind turbines” Plus 3 dozen gerbils. Don’t forget the gerbils.
By the way. Does GeV stand for a gazillion electron volts? Because that would be a lot.
DirkH says:
July 4, 2012 at 11:27 am
The best part is, they run the LHC on five wind turbines.
————————–
Are you sure?
I heard it was underground solyndra solar panel arrays 🙂
@DirkH That was meant in a sarcastic manner, I assume?
LHC draws 220-300 MW of power mainly supplied by EDF, so it’s mostly produced in nuclear reactors. Backup draws from the swiss electric net with diesel generators as a failsafe to safely power down the system, when necessary.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/embedded-systems/powering-the-large-hadron-collider
Leif Svalgaard says:
July 4, 2012 at 11:01 am
The complete analysis is expected to be published around the end of July.
Then they should have waited until then with the press release.
This is the presentation to the main HEP conference of each experiment.
The complete analysis refers to combining correctly the results of the two independent experiments, CMS, and ATLAS, and this is expected for the end of July. If you go through the slides of the talks, and the work involved behind them, combining the two is not trivial.
John Coleman says:
“I ask for help from the smarter-than-me readers of WUWT. Thanks”
I think you are asking for the moon. You have to take it on faith that all science progress eventually has benefits for mankind, if used intelligently and correctly. It also, because of politics and the inherent evil and greed of many men and women, can be used to mankind’s detriment.
One classic example is the Laser. When discovered no one could think of a use for it but now clothes and decorative greetings cards are cut out with them along with a multitude of other uses. That doesn’t stop the armed forces using them as weapons or stupid youths trying to blind plane pilots with them.
Of course the Higgs boson is much more fundamental, but the greater our understanding of fundamental particles the better chance there is for scientific advancement in other fields. You can’t stop human search for knowledge, it has proved so beneficial in the past.
There is no way it is going to provide us with a new super washing machine or car, if that is what you are looking for!
Tim.
The director general of CERN said that for the layman, this is the Higgs. For the particle physicist, there is a lot more work to establish what kind of Higgs it is.
The Standard Model as organized by the existing theory is so successful that a Higgs is inevitable. It is known though, from various values of the standard model parameters that the model is not complete, a larger theory/symmetry/what-have-you will be necessary for the TeV energies that the LHC is exploring . Candidate theories have more than one Higgs, as supersymmetry does, for example.
The function of the underlying Higgs field which is the mechanism of generating the masses of all the SM particles, ( including this putative Higgs boson) will exist in any new theoretical proposal. The fashionable and more attractive to most is string theory with supersymmetry as part of it. More statistics will allow us to discriminate between alternate propositions .
Question…From what I understand of this subject (which is admittantly less than nil), if they actually discovered what they are looking for, the source of the beginning of the universe, would we even know it or would the universe start over from scratch? ‘As it has happened before, it will happen again’ comes to mind.
@ur momisugly John Coleman says:
July 4, 2012 at 11:02 am
My job today will be to cover this story for our TV newscast here in San Diego. I have read and read and have some understanding. However, my News Director wants me to tell our viewers what this will mean to them, our socieity and our civilization. Understanding the very basics of the physics of the Universe is exciting, but does it have any practical payoff? In medicene, electronics, transportation, will there be any pay off? I don’t have a hint of the answer to these questions. I ask for help from the smarter-than-me readers of WUWT. Thanks
************************************************************
If, and it’s a BIG IF, it is the real deal, AND if it can be controlled and subsequently rolled into Engineering it COULD result in the control of inertia. Which would be a very big deal indeed. Remember all those stories of UFO’s zipping around at monstrous accelerations? Control of inertia would permit that. 0 to light speed in nothing flat.
John Coleman says: July 4, 2012 at 11:02 am
…but does it have any practical payoff?
If you can detect something then you are able to interfere with it.
If you can interfere with it perhaps you can control it.
If this can be controlled it would be a massive (no pun intended) leap forward.
This thing is supposed to be the source (origin) of mass, and thus the attachment point for (or origin of) gravity.
The ability to control this thing (if it is what they say AND it does what they think) could/might/would yield a control over the presence or absence of mass (gravity) at a location. Perhaps even create a negative mass region.
Think electromagnetic as a parallel.
So, the implications are vast (major league science fiction type stuff): Anti-gravity (electromagnet), Gravity wave weapons (radio), etc.
Faster then light movement could be possible with a negative-mass region.
Negative-mass region may explain the ‘spooky action at a distance’ in quantum mechanics.
I don’t think that mass or gravity arises from this particle, but we shall see what they have to say.
rufus3698 says: “A victory of the standard model.”
Sorry, no it isn’t:
http://motls.blogspot.com/2012/07/why-125-gev-higgs-boson-isnt-quite.html
“Which brings up Lee Smolin”
Ah. There’s your problem. You listen to crackpots who don’t know what they are talking about.
cui bono @ur momisugly July 4, 2012 at 11:31 am
Yeah, that was my thought. Our understanding of the universe is about to be confirmed. Well, OK, it narrows it down from a set of possibilities which have already been explored for their implications.
But, maybe not a total yawner. If John Coleman wants a juicy story, well the Higgs boson is part of the mechanism which produces mass, and mass is what keeps us from being able to accelerate to speeds which would allow us to colonize the Solar System/Galaxy/Universe. So, maybe this is the first step on the path to a warp drive (well, a really fast drive, anyway, but warp drive is what captures popular imaginations).
anna v says:
July 4, 2012 at 11:52 am
“The complete analysis is expected to be published around the end of July.
Then they should have waited until then with the press release.”
This is the presentation to the main HEP conference of each experiment.
Fair enough, so it should have been just that, a presentation, a powerpoint or similar shown for the audience of HEP. Science by press releases is a poor thing, as the press usually gets it wrong.
That said, it is comforting that the standard model still stands, although it would have been REALLY big news if they had not found anything.