# Higgs Boson the "God Particle" Found?



## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

One of the CERN Particle Accelerator jobs was to replace the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois. Another was the search for the theoretical Higgs Boson or so called "God Particle".

Rumors are running rampant that Fermi, in what may be one of its last official functions, has found the Higgs Boson.

Nobody is talking officially and some are denying the rumor.

More may be known when the International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP) meets in Paris on July 22nd.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

And yet no one flashed forward 20 years. Odd.


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## matt (Jan 12, 2010)

Well I wikipedia'd that and even with my crash course in modern physics, I am still pretty lost. In summation, the Higgs Boson is where matter or mass originates?


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

It appears to be the particle that, by its presence in the hypothetical Higgs field, endows other particles as well as itself with mass. 

I understand very little and even that only on a superficial basis, but it seems to me there are two types of particles... massive and massless. If the amount of mass is increasing, or if there ever was a point where there were only massless particles, then there must be some way that massless particles turn into massive ones. 

The way I understand it, a lot of current theory depends on the idea that it is theoretically possible to turn a massless particle into a massive one. Saying that the Higgs boson does it sounds much better in a thesis than saying Ronald McDonald does it. (And yet, if you eat too much McDonalds, you will inevitably become more massive.)


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

I am the scientific type by nature, but the Higgs Boson strays into theoretical physics so far over my head you would need a deep space radar array to track it.

Couple things I know... it is kind of the "holy grail" to a lot of theoretical physicists.

The Fermi Lab has been looking for it for a really long time but they felt they didn't have sufficient power, though they kept trying.

The CERN Particle Accelerator was built when we in the United States couldn't figure out how to pay for it, and it was built to replace Fermi.

It was a "prop" in the Ron Howard/Tom Hanks movie "Angels & Demons".


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Stuart Sweet said:


> And yet no one flashed forward 20 years. Odd.


Only about 20 yocto-seconds...


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

The 96.7% probability is not enough for the theory. After 99.99% we will talk.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

I take it all you guys are watching "Through the Wormhole" on the Sci channel? They were talking about that particle last night. Good show.


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## HDJulie (Aug 10, 2008)

I've got it on the DVR. I watched the first episode about whether there was a creator. I really liked the theory that we were actually a simulation done by our future selves .


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## dirtyblueshirt (Dec 7, 2008)

Stuart Sweet said:


> And yet no one flashed forward 20 years. Odd.


It might explain the recent cluster of quakes in San Diego, lol :lol:


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Very interesting episode in that it acknowledged the possibility of an intelligent being as a creator (singularity?), especially considering to what lengths some will go to deny or disprove the possibility of the existence of a creator.

EDIT: Note changes above


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## dirtyblueshirt (Dec 7, 2008)

Nick said:


> Very interesting episode, especially to what lengths some will go to deny the existence of a Creator.


I don't think we should travel that path here...


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

dirtyblueshirt said:


> I don't think we should travel that path here...


Thanks...edits have been made to my previous post.

I wasn't trying to steer the discussion into a religious realm, but just to point out that the 'Worm Hole' program at least considered the possibility of an intelligent creator, if only as _unscientific_, made-for-tv speculation.


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## Mike Bertelson (Jan 24, 2007)

Rumors dismissed.... :shrug:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-talk-god-particle-0714-20100713,0,6952453.story

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/...93958,God-particle-Fermilab_SCN071310.article

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/07/13/particle-rumour-collider.html

Bummer, I was really stoked about this story (note the [email protected] in my signature). 

Mike


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## matt (Jan 12, 2010)

Hey thanks! This thread sure helped with the reference in Futurama tonight. I would have had no idea what they were talking about without it.

"Durr, my name's Leonardo and I don't know the mass of the Higgs Boson!"


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