Polytheism: LHC scientists baffled by evidence of TWO Higgs Bosons

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/12/14/have-scientists-found-two-different-higgs-bosons/

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A month ago scientists at the Large Hadron Collider released the latest Higgs boson results. And although the data held few obvious surprises, most intriguing were the results that scientists didn’t share.

The original Higgs data from back in July had shown that the Higgs seemed to be decaying into two photons more often than it should—an enticing though faint hint of something new, some sort of physics beyond our understanding. In November, scientists at the Atlas and LHC experiments updated everything except the two-photon data. This week we learned why.

Yesterday researchers at the Atlas experiment finally updated the two-photon results. What they seem to have found is bizarre—so bizarre, in fact, that physicists assume something must be wrong with it. Instead of one clean peak in the data, they have found two. There seems to be a Higgs boson with a mass of 123.5 GeV (gigaelectron volts, the measuring unit that particle physicists most often use for mass), and another Higgs boson at 126.6 GeV—a statistically significant difference of nearly 3 GeV. Apparently, the Atlas scientists have spent the past month trying to figure out if they could be making a mistake in the data analysis, to little avail. Might there be two Higgs bosons?

Although certain extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics postulate the existence of multiple Higgs bosons, none of them would predict that two Higgs particles would have such similar masses. They also don’t predict why one should preferentially decay into two Z particles (the 123.5 GeV bump comes from decays of the Higgs into Zs), while the other would decay into photons.

The particle physicist Adam Falkowski (under the nom de plume Jester) writes that the results “most likely signal a systematic problem rather than some interesting physics.” (By “systematic problem” he means something like a poorly-calibrated detector.) The physicist Tommaso Dorigo bets that it’s a statistical fluke that will go away with more data. Indeed, he’s willing to bet $100 on it with up to five people, in case you’re the kind of person who likes to wager on the results of particle physics experiments with particle physicists. The Atlas physicists are well aware of both of these possibilities, of course, and have spent the past month trying to shake the data out to see if they can fix it. Still, the anomaly remains.

But let’s not let this intriguing blip distract us from the original scent of new physics. Back when the preliminary data seemed to show that the Higgs was decaying into two photons more often than it should, I wrote that it could be “a statistical blip that would wash away in the coming flood of data.” But more data has now arrived, and the blip hasn’t gone anywhere. The Higgs boson continues to appear to be decaying into two photons nearly twice as often as it should.

All the more reason to stay tuned for the next big data release, currently scheduled for March.

ITT: Everybody pretends to understand what this could mean.

*pretends*

12-12-12

edit: 12-21-12

Obel here's some info:

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depending on how this new particle behaves, it might point to more exotic physics that go beyond what's predicted by the Standard Model. That's an exciting possibility, as it might mean the Higgs can open the door up for supersymmetry, or perhaps improve our understanding of the mysterious dark matter and even more mysterious dark energy that make up 96% of the universe.

..

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In particle physics, there is a theory called the “Standard Model” that endeavors to explain all electromagnetic and nuclear reactions between particles. The “Standard Model”, derived in the 1970′s, explains that the universe is completely comprised of matter (fermions) and force (bosons). The brilliance of the “Standard Model” is that it has been able to successfully explain nearly all experimental physics.

Particle physics is the study of the individual elements that comprise our universe. As most know, atoms are composed of smaller components; neutrons, electrons and protons. When electrons jump between atoms, new substances are formed, but the nucleus of an atom generally remains unchanged unless it undergoes a nuclear reaction. The neutron/proton nucleus is also known as a hadron, which is made up of quarks. Quarks come paired in six different varieties; up and down, charm and strange, top and bottom. Quarks can also be classified as first, second, or third generation.

 

According to the “Standard Model,” all matter consists of two different types of particles, quarks and leptons (i.e. electrons and neutrinos), held together by bosons. Bosons describe the force between particles.

There are three elementary bosons called gauge bosons; the photon (electromagnetic force), the W and Z boson (the weak force) and the gluons (the strong force). Then there are two additional suspected, yet unobserved, bosons, the Graviton and the Higgs.

The Higgs boson was originally suggested in the 1960′s by British physicist Peter Higgs. Higgs postulated that a particle gains mass by passing through the Higgs field, a combination of an electromagnetic field and a solid. Before the Higgs portion of the “Standard Model,” it was assumed that W and Z bosons interacted with other elementary particles, however, the mass of those bosons was always so large that it unbalanced and broke the “Standard Model”.

 

Thus, it was postulated that there had to be at least one other particle added to the mass equation, the Higgs boson. Ever since the search as been on to find the elusive Higgs, leading to the construction of the LHC.

The LHC is the world’s largest particle accelerator. Built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and situated along the border between France and Switzerland. LHC’s sole purpose is to be a platform in which to test particle physics theories. It is run by engineers and scientists from hundreds of universities and laboratories from over a hundred different countries.

Thanks, man. They've not been letting me in Google anymore, ever since 'the incident'.

Sorry to hear that, hope it gets sorted soon.

Higgs Boson that decays in photons = GOOD

Higgs Boson that decays in Z particles = EVIL

God Particle vs Satan Particle

obvious really.

  On 12/16/2012 at 3:08 PM, Obel said:

Thanks, man. They've not been letting me in Google anymore, ever since 'the incident'.

lol

Holy shit, that's incredible.

Now can someone explain it to me?

yes Limpy, compson will help you understand in the form of another long quote shortly

basically, turns out 2 + 2 = 5

  On 12/17/2012 at 1:02 AM, Awepittance said:

yes Limpy, compson will help you understand in the form of another long quote shortly

Why would I type an explanation when there are ones freely available? I'm just posting new information, there has been threads on LHC and dark matter before I believe. If you think its a waste, that's fine, but no need to dick up a thread. Was also hoping someone here with more knowledge than I could weigh in on this.

W A T M M

the eternal cynic hole of the internet

I was just making a joke about how dumb I am.

I find this stuff fascinating, I just can't seem to wrap my head around it no matter how much I try.

(And I've tried boning up many many many times)

Sorry to muck up the thread, though.

  On 12/17/2012 at 1:39 AM, LimpyLoo said:

I was just making a joke about how dumb I am.

 

I find this stuff fascinating, I just can't seem to wrap my head around it no matter how much I try.

 

 

(And I've tried boning up many many many times)

 

Sorry to muck up the thread, though.

That wasn't directed at you Limpy. Asking questions is good. Gonna read up more on this tonight, i'll post anything interesting that I find.

my dads big into his quantum physics and advanced mathematical concepts, he basically said this shit is quite simply not something you can understand until you actually have studied the underlying maths and equations surrounding basic(but also wildly fucking complicated) quantum physics.

We can make accurate mathematical predictions but beyond that its still very much a mystery is that I hear scientists say. Doesn't mean it's not interesting to think about or learn more about.

For example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7YBmOk1nQw

This still baffles me but I think about it often.

The LHC was far more interesting before they turned it on. Quantum paradox?

Gee Third Dimensional Spacetime! How come your Mom lets you have two God Particles?

we all are in the matrix

  On 12/17/2012 at 1:58 AM, logakght said:

we all are in the matrix

ffs man you already created three threads showing us screencaps from your part as an extra in that crowd scene with the woman in the red dress

STOP BRAGGIN DUDE

lol

lush mate

pwnt

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The physicist Tommaso Dorigo bets that it’s a statistical fluke that will go away with more data.

If I know my physics history right, this is pretty much evidence of the opposite.

so there is a spoon?