That is to say, CERN is going to share with us what the most recent LHC data are saying about the Higgs (and whatever else might have popped up, I guess) in a seminar on July 4th at CERN itself, just before the ICHEP conference in Melbourne. Excerpt from the press release:
If and when a new particle is discovered, ATLAS and CMS will need time to ascertain whether it is the long sought Higgs boson, the last missing ingredient of the Standard Model of particle physics, or whether it is a more exotic form of the boson that could open the door to new physics.
“It’s a bit like spotting a familiar face from afar,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer, “sometimes you need closer inspection to find out whether it’s really your best friend, or actually your best friend’s twin.”
Suggestive.
There’s been a lot of talking back and forth about the ethics of trafficking in rumors, and I don’t mean the jokey kind. Personally I think it’s pretty simple: if a collaboration of thousands of physicists wants to keep their results quiet until they are ready to announce them, that’s completely their right. I’m not going to pass along anonymous tips — if the tippers didn’t understand that they were doing something wrong, they wouldn’t stay anonymous. The rumors aren’t part of keeping the public informed; there’s plenty of time for that once the actual results are released.
Which will happen very soon! Whatever the answers may be, it’s a great accomplishment for the LHC folks to have come this far.
@ JW Mason,
I do think Entropy Says did a pretty good job with his explanation of Higgs in relation to the Standard Model. Please note however, the Standard Model did NOT agree with experiment until the Higgs Mechanism…the ‘extension’ was ‘tacked on’. When I first started exploring physics I also had a great deal of respect for the scientific integrity and accomplishment of moden day physicists… then I looked under the hood and discovered the horror of what was making things hum along so smoothly. The Higgs Mechanism is not a mechanism of any sort. It is a piece of mathematical fudge designed solely for the purpose of making SU(2) gauge theory (which predicts ZERO masses) pretend to be a symmetry that can be broken for no reason… spontaneously…and thus claiming to agree with experiment…miraculously. With nonsense like this posing as ‘physics’, its a wonder they aren’t still playing with epicycles, or ‘spontaneously’ symmetry breaking lead into gold with their new found powers of alchemy.
On July 4th, a lot of very nervous physicists are going to be praying to whatever improbability function they worship that a Higgs is found….if they do find one, it will truly be one upping Jesus Christ, as he only supposedly turned water into wine, the physicists are going to try to turn their bad math into an actual physical particle. I wish them all the luck in the world with their reality symmetry breaking. I’m buying popcorn for the cosmic spectacle I hope to enjoy.
@Peter Woit
” It’s also possible that a two week delay in this news about the Higgs could set back the research of some young particle physicist, delaying his or her discovery that the Higgs field could be used to defend against attack by the Romulans. This delay could be just enough to allow the Romulans to destroy our civilization. Something to keep in mind.”
I think you probably meant the evil Kardashians. And we’re already too late. The monstrous Kim has already destroyed our civilization.
I think everybody (or most everybody) understands that whatever they discover and choose to call the Higgs will not be end and close of discussion on the Standard Model. New information will eventually transform it all out of all recognition.
Whatever the Higgs is, it is not a “relativity” moment where a whole subset of the universe becomes more clear, but just another data point that clears some things up, confuses others and probably eventually gets lost as better ideas come about.
@ 26 Christian Takacs:
What are you talking about? “Standard Model did NOT agree with experiment until the Higgs Mechanism…the ‘extension’ was ‘tacked on’”…
The Standard Model IS the Higgs mechanism. It didn’t exist before Brout, Englert et al (and didn’t exist afterwards, either, until Weinberg et al).
Christian Takacs the poster child for the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Entropy,
Thanks!
It does feel as if the heat:light ratio is unusually high in the popular-science world on this one. Well, just have to wait for Sean’s book, I guess…
@Doug,
Instead of trying to be clever without showing wit and attempting to be rude, Why don’t you look up some other conditions in the DSM that you haven’t already mentioned before. You need new material and seem to enjoy reading about abnormal psychology , it will keep you busy and entertained, write a nice report too while you are at it.
@James,
There is always a before and after with theories. The Standard Model is no exception. They don’t come about spontaneously like the miraculous symmetry breakings you would seem to accept. The Standard model didn’t start with Higgs Mechanism, and it most likely won’t immediately end with it either. Already alternates are being proposed… higgsless standard models of several types are being developed. It most likely won’t make much difference though. Until physics regains far firmer footing in some kind of actual mechanical theory based in causality, just adding more complicated mathematical abstraction with virtual particles , imaginary spaces, and non-physical physics in background independent fields is not going to make any progress. Before you get upset with me for bashing what I consider an imaginary particle (which according to you the Standard Model can’t do without)… a dangerous position you are taking by the way, but you are the one claiming there is no Standard Model without it, … why don’t you wait until July 4th and see what happens. If I am right, and no Higgs is found, you most likely will be looking for a new theory.. If you are right, you can tell me “aha! you were wrong, mathematical fudges actually can become physical particles!” There is also however another possibility, they find something, don’t know what the hell it is, and want several more billion dollars to build another collider to figure it out…at which point I will quote David Hannum to you.
Yes Christian you know best 😉
@Christian, you seem to be a little confused as to what is meant by “The Standard Model”. In general use, it refers either to the standard model (in lower-case) of particle physics, consisting of a bunch of fermions interacting via an SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) gauge theory, or it refers to the SU(2)xU(1) part of it, ie. the GSW theory of weak interactions, complete with Higgs mechanism for symmetry-breaking. Either way, the Higgs is an integral part of it, not something that’s tacked on.
Certainly, you could say that the Standard Model will be falsified if we find no Higgs, but who cares? In fact, great! We have to think of a new solution. This is the sort of thing that’s often assumed to be a disaster by those outside of science, but by almost no-one within it.
What you seem to be referring to, by “Standard Model”, is simply the current best model at any particular time, and you’re saying that it has always needed updating. Well, yes, that’s how science progresses, and with each step, we get a little better understanding of the subject. There’s nothing profound about this.
You may have missed it, but physicists aren’t wedded to the Standard Model in any sense – they’ve spent much of the last thirty years looking for alternatives. Now (some of) those alternatives are being put to the test.
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I remember a Steven Weinberg interview from a couple of years ago in which he was asked how physicists felt upon the prospect of future results forthcoming from the LHC. He responded immediately with “Terrified!”, explaining that the Standard Model has been so experimentally successful that theoretical physicists are in a quandary regarding moving the theory forward into new physics. Quantum Gravity, etc. He was afraid that the LHC would find the Higgs Boson… and nothing else. If Higgs is confirmed at this point, that’s exactly where we would be, for now. At last word (December 2011?), there was no evidence at all for Supersymmetry or extra dimensions. And nothing else that was “off-the-wall”.
Personally, I’m a lot more interested in the things people *aren;t* buzzing about. Susy. Hints of extra spatial dimensions. Or some really weird “Hmmm, that’s odd…” result somewhere.
Barring that, it would be fun if Higgs was ruled out on 4 July.
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