Happy 5th Higgs Day!
July 4, 2017 at 4:20 pm
(This post was last modified: July 4, 2017 at 5:19 pm by Alex K.)
5 years ago this day, the discovery of a new Boson which closely matched the properties of the theorized Higgs boson, was announced at the European Center for nuclear Research CERN near Geneva. The boson was discovered simulatneously by the two big experiments at the Large Hadron Collider which were designed for this purpose, called CMS and ATLAS. Behind each of these abbreviations are more than 3000 researchers from institutions all over the world. The discovery talk for the ATLAS Experiment was given by Fabiola Gianotti, who has since become the DG (Director General) of CERN and thus is, in more ways than one, the Popess of particle physics sans the infallibility (CERN is an autonomous transnational entity). The discovery talk for the CMS Experiment was given by the American Joe Incandela.
The boson was predicted to exist in this form in 1967 by Steve Weinberg, Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow, who were Building on work by Peter Higgs and several others (Kibble, Brout, Englert, Anderson, I am forgetting some) done back in 1964. In other words, the discovery of the Higgs boson was expected for 45 years, and was then discovered to exist and have exactly the properties predicted in the 60s. This is both great and very problematic for fundamental physics. On the one hand, it impressively demonstrated how powerful the prinicples of theoretical physics and the machinery of experimental particle physics are. On the other hand, it once again left the theoretical state of the art of fundamental particle physics stuck in the past. Physicists would love nothing more than a radical discovery which overturns what we thought we know for decades, but that is precisely not what has happened. Had we not discovered the Higgs boson but something different, that would have meant a revolution in physics. Now, this revolution is still making us wait, and it is uncertain what the future of the field holds.
The boson was predicted to exist in this form in 1967 by Steve Weinberg, Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow, who were Building on work by Peter Higgs and several others (Kibble, Brout, Englert, Anderson, I am forgetting some) done back in 1964. In other words, the discovery of the Higgs boson was expected for 45 years, and was then discovered to exist and have exactly the properties predicted in the 60s. This is both great and very problematic for fundamental physics. On the one hand, it impressively demonstrated how powerful the prinicples of theoretical physics and the machinery of experimental particle physics are. On the other hand, it once again left the theoretical state of the art of fundamental particle physics stuck in the past. Physicists would love nothing more than a radical discovery which overturns what we thought we know for decades, but that is precisely not what has happened. Had we not discovered the Higgs boson but something different, that would have meant a revolution in physics. Now, this revolution is still making us wait, and it is uncertain what the future of the field holds.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition