Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Precise W Boson Mass Measurement Helps Lead the Way To the Higgs Boson

Posted by Soulskill on from the over-the-river-and-through-the-woods dept.

New submitter SchrodingerZ writes "'The world's most precise measurement of the mass of the W Boson, one of nature's elementary particles, has been achieved by scientists from the CDF and DZero collaborations at the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.' This new number (80387 +- 17 MeV/c^2) puts more constraint on the mass of the theorized Higgs Boson, which is theorized to give mass to all other things, supporting the standard model. 'Scientists employ two techniques to find the hiding place of the Higgs particle: the direct production of Higgs particles and precision measurements of other particles and forces that could be influenced by the existence of a Higgs particle.'"

9 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. Why can science... by wbr1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    ....routinely measure such esoteric things, but still can't devise a test to determine my girlfriends mood?

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
    1. Re:Why can science... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      We can either determine her mood or determine that she is your girlfriend, not both.

    2. Re:Why can science... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      She's a woman? OK, advanced scientific instruments have determined that her current mood is:

      BITCHY

      That wasn't so hard now, was it? Also, while this may look like a comment, it's actually an advanced Web 3.0 application. Any time you want to know your girlfriends mood, just refer back to this post, as it will continually update as her mood changes.

    3. Re:Why can science... by wbr1 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hmmm. Schrodinger's pussy I guess.

      --
      Silence is a state of mime.
  2. 80387? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    So each W Bozon is a math coprocessor in and of itself?

    Imagine a beowulf cluster...

  3. Obligatory XKCD by Powercntrl · · Score: 4, Funny

    Slashdot should just automatically link Higgs Boson to this, every time.

    There's probably some truth to this, too. A particle accelerator is the ultimate geek toy.

    --

    ---
    DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
  4. Cupcakes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I find the best way to lure a Higgs Boson out of hiding is with cupcakes.

  5. Re:Where does the Higgs mass come from? by ch-chuck · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's Higgs Boson's all the way down.

    --
    try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
  6. come on now by KingAlanI · · Score: 4, Funny

    menstruation jokes are the lowest form of humor, period.

    --
    I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.