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Science In Action: 05/07/2012

05/07/2012

BBC World Service - Science In Action, 05/07/2012

Particle found at CERN, is it the Higgs boson?

Scientists announce that they've found a particle at CERN, but is it the Higgs boson? Monitoring for tsunamis in the Pacific.

Particle found at CERN, is it the Higgs boson?

Scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, have claimed the discovery of a new particle that is consistent with the Higgs boson.

There are two teams searching for the Higgs particle at the LHC, the ATLAS team and the CMS team, and both have seen a level of certainty in their data consistent with a "discovery".

Many more experiments and analysis needs to be done before they can be certain that they have found the Higgs boson. And that it is the Higgs boson that fits into the Standard Model equation.

The Higgs Boson is the last, missing ingredient in a recipe for the Universe that physicists have been cooking up since the 1960s. The other ingredients are subatomic particles like quarks, and electrons, which combine to make the atoms out of which we’re all made; and the four forces that govern the way they combine and behave. 

The Higgs particle, in a way comes above them all. It governs the masses of the subatomic particles, and controls the behaviour of the forces. The Higgs boson is actually a part of something more fundamental – an invisible field that permeates all of space the Higgs Field, rather like a magnetic field fills the volume around a bar magnet. But because we’re all immersed in this cosmic treacle, we’re unable to see it directly. Which is where the Large Hadron Collider at CERN comes in. By smashing together subatomic particles at high energy, the researchers believe they can stir up this Higgs field, and throw out droplets they can detect – the Higgs Bosons.

Tsunami Warning Centre
Early warning about imminent tsunamis help to save lives. Scientists around the globe monitor sea level and seismic data to calculate whether and where the devastating wave may hit, as well as how big it may be. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in the small town of Palmer, Alaska covers the coast of most of Pacific North America.

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