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Long before the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) could smash its first atoms, researchers manning the Tevatron collider at Fermilab, in a quiet suburb 40 miles west of Chicago, raced to find evidence that the Higgs boson exists. After roughly three decades of service, the Tevatron shut down for good in late 2011, dealing the city of Batavia’s largest employer a significant blow. Less than 18 months later, the LHC (the Tevatron’s technological successor) also went offline – albeit temporarily. Only four years after recording its first proton collisions, the team at CERN is already scrambling to upgrade the staggering LHC, which lies under parts of no less than five cities in both France and Switzerland. With the world’s largest particle colliders smashing a whole lot of nothing together for the next two years at least, the field of high-energy physics research is starting to look resource-starved. Of course, many might ask why exactly we need giant atom smashers like this, or even how they work. It turns out that first part is quite a bit easier to answer than the second.

During the last several decades, particle accelerators have revealed the existence of elementary particles such as quarks, led to the discovery of antimatter and generally helped us unlock the mysteries of the universe. And once they were done splitting atoms and probing the darkest corners of theoretical physics, accelerators often led to breakthroughs in medical imaging and cancer research. So, as massive colliders seem ready to land on the endangered species list, it seems as good a time as any to explain what a particle collider is, how it works and what we as a society have to gain from the research.

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Are you still scratching your head over what a particle accelerator like the Large Hadron Collider actually does? Don’t feel bad, the LHC is the most complicated piece of scientific equipment mankind has ever built. And unless you’re a physicist, you’ll probably never understand its intricacies. But if you’re curious, take a few minutes to watch this animated Particle Accelerator 101 by Don Lincoln. You won’t be applying for a job at CERN afterwards, but you should at least get the gist of what’s going on at the LHC. [YouTube via Geekosystem] More »

The last time CERN and an angry bird met, it didn’t end so well: the Large Hadron Collider overheated after a feathered creature reportedly dropped its breakfast on outdoor machinery. Things should go much more smoothly this time around, with CERN and Rovio partnering on an educational initiative that will be unveiled in full at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 12th. Although the two are shy on just what’s entailed beyond the presence of some Angry Birds material at the event, the union will mark the start of Rovio’s learning brand and likely represent more in the long run than another Angry Birds Space tie-in. We’re mostly wondering if subatomic physics research will explain why we still can’t three-star some levels in a physics-based game.

Continue reading Rovio and CERN teaming up on education: hopefully the Angry Birds help us this time

Filed under: Gaming, Science, Mobile

Rovio and CERN teaming up on education: hopefully the Angry Birds help us this time originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 08:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Physics’ big announcement had more in common with a leaky product launch than the serious business of re-writing the science books. But slack asset management aside, it’s official: a new boson has been observed with a standard deviation of 5 (confidence of 99.9%). The highly anticipated announcement came this morning direct from CERN’s press conference (via ICHEP in Melbourne,) and is the result of an intense, ongoing search for the elusive particle. The observation is of a boson particle with a mass of 125.3 ± 0.6 GeV, at a significance of 4.9 sigma. Joe Incandela — giving the presentation — said that this is “In agreement with the standard model at 95% confidence range.” The boson is the heaviest ever found, and although this is still a preliminary result, it’s by far the strongest case yet for the existence of the elusive Higgs.

The sought-after particle is essential for supporting the current understanding of sub-atomic world, and its bearing on nuclear, and electromagnetic interactions. The next stage will be to determine the exact characteristics of the new particle and whether it matches the expectations of the Higgs, or is it in fact something more “exotic.” This part will take much more time, but for now, a (very) small, but important piece of the puzzle has been found.

Update: We’re sure you’ve got many questions, and CERN apparently anticipated this. Check out the more coverage link for a helpful FAQ about everything Higgs.

[Image credit: CERN]

Continue reading CERN confirms existence of new particle consistent with Higgs boson (video)

CERN confirms existence of new particle consistent with Higgs boson (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 03:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We had a false alarm over the possible discovery of the theory-unifying Higgs boson last year, but a bit of poking and prodding in subsequent months may well have given us much more definitive evidence of the elusive particle. According to some rare rumors emerging from Nature, both CERN’s ATLAS and CMS detectors have seen particle decay signals suggesting the existence of Higgs to within a 4.5 to 5 sigma level of proof — in other words, very nearly concrete evidence. That’s not quite the 5-plus needed to settle the matter, but it’s to a much higher level of certainty than before. As if to add fuel to the fire, ScienceNews even located a briefly posted, CERN-made video (sadly, since pulled) saying bluntly that the CMS team had “observed a new particle.”

Whether or not there’s any substance is another matter. Nature hears that scientists are supposedly still working out what to say at an event on Wednesday, while CERN has made the slightly odd claim to ScienceNews that the yanked video is just one of several pre-recorded segments made to cover possible outcomes — you know, in that “Dewey defeats Truman” sort of way. Unless the scientists have to go back to the drawing board, though, the focus from now on may be more on learning how Higgs behaves than its very existence. Any significant truth could see researchers proving the validity of the standard model of physics just as we’re firing up our Independence Day barbecues.

Higgs boson just may, possibly, more or less be proven to exist by ATLAS and CMS teams originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 14:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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