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First Definitive Higgs Result In 7 Years

Posted by kdawson on from the you-want-mass-with-that dept.

PhysicsDavid writes "In a suite of new results about the Higgs boson, Fermilab presents the first new definitive evidence on the (lack of) existence of the Higgs boson since the Large Electron Positron collider shut down in 2000. Fermilab hasn't found the Higgs, but can rule out a certain range of masses for the particle that is believed to create mass for all the other particles of nature. Other Higgs news suggests a new likeliest mass range of 115 to 135 GeV for the Higgs. These results were among those presented at the ICHEP 2008 conference currently wrapping up in Philadelphia."

3 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. 135 GeV seems very high... by Dice · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Okay, I only have a 4 year degree in Physics so maybe someone can help me out on this. If this particle gives the property of mass then shouldn't it have a mass less than that of the lightest particles? According to a quick Google calculation this thing out-masses an electron by 5 orders of magnitude.

    WTF?

  2. Mass actually measured in eV/c^2 by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Actually is it not. Mass is correctly expressed in units of GeV/c^2. Einstein showed that energy and mass are equivalent with his famous E=mc^2 relationship. Hence mass, m=E/c^2. Thus we can use units of energy/c^2 to measure mass. This is particularly useful in fields like particle physics because we often convert mass into energy, or vice versa, and so it is useful to know how much energy it takes to create a particle (or is released in a particle decay).

    Using units of 'GeV' for mass is actually very sloppy and technically wrong because energy and mass do not have the same dimensions and so cannot have the same physical units. The usual excuse is the use of natural units where c=1. However that '1' has dimensions associated with it and so to ensure that those dimensions are preserved you need to include it in the units. Hence mass is actually measured in 'GeV/c2' and not 'GeV'. Similarly momentum can me measured in units of 'GeV/c'.

  3. Re:Higgs by RedOctober · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I remember reading somewhere that some astronomy students, out of perversity, decided to continue working on the Ptolomaic system, adding additional epicycles on top of the ones that were conventional at the time to improve on accuracy, and to add the new planets discovered since then. The end result was a complex system that fairly accurately predicted planetary positions. Of course, it was all done tongue in cheek, but it does demonstrate that certain systems can be tailored ad infinitum to greater levels of accuracy - even if they are wrong in principle.

    I wish I could find a link to to this.