Higgs Boson

BBC on news from CERN

From the cited article,

Who are you asking to wait? Did you email the author of the article in question to wait? Or are you asking GDR not to post articles that are not to your liking?NoNukes, are you trying to suppress information?He simply posted an article, which im sure he read and seen your little quote already...Here's a thought, if you have nothing to sayt about the article in question, dont say anything.But thanks for quoting the only part of it you like and not mentioning the actual premise of the article, which is optimism.I wonder what you say when Scientists find " 70 million" year old dino fossils? HMMMM, I bet it's not...duuuur, ummm, maybe we should....WAIT?

If you had done more than just read NoNukes subtitle (which is ironically the only part you quoted), then your questions would have been answered.Maybe next time you should just wait a bit before replying.TBH: I think you are losing it.
Your posts are becoming more and more 'raging'.
Perhaps you should take a nice break - lean back - and relax.

Optimism, indeed down right thrilling is the word, regardless of the future end result.The LHC data is narrowing the range where the Higgs may be. But these results are also consistent with what would be expected if the Higgs does not exist.We are optimistic, actually quite giddy, that very soon now we will find the beast or find that the thing does not exist at all (at least not in the ranges the Standard Model expects). Either way the impact on our theories in physics will be staggering and that is the thrilling part.

Right off topic but I just want to add a word of thanks to those that are actually educated and have experience in this field. I'm able to understand enough of what you guys write, ( a long way from all of it) that I am getting a free education, and as a bonus there are no exams.

This is the part that many outside of science do not seem to understand. Scientists are sometimes more excited with being wrong than with being right. If the Higgs is not there it is just as exciting as finding the Higgs, perhaps even more exciting.

It is easy to say it is more exciting not to find the Higgs, but the truth of the matter is that it has been so damn long since we found something concrete in particle physics, that everyone is desperate for it even at the expense of the possibility of having to start over on the Higgs sector of the Standard Model. The awesome days of the discovery of the W^+/- and Z⁰ are so long ago, I'm not even sure they happened Their discovery was a major part of my early life in pre-academia.Edited by cavediver, : No reason given.

I can understand that perspective. However, if there is concrete evidence that the Higgs does not exist it does make gravity/mass a wide open field. That hasn't happened in a while either, has it?

Not gravity - it is a common misconception that the Higgs has anything to do with the vast majority of gravitational mass. The Higgs is what gives rise to the non-zero rest-masses of the various particles. But rest-mass is an almost negligible contribution to the total mass of gravitating objects.Yes, the origin of the non-zero rest masses becomes open again if the Higgs mechanism is not responsible. But it will almost certainly be something similar, if not specifically the Higgs then some equiavlent or condensate (possibly from some new phsyics, which is why it would be exciting); there are too many constraints from the physics we do know for it to be a completely open question.Also, finding the Higgs is no barrier to investigating new physics. On the contrary, the Stanard Model with Higgs is still the most bizarre hodge-podge and is a blatent sign that it is merely an effective theory of some deeper physics.

Good point. Would it be fair to say that mass is the result of a particle and its accompanying field even if it isn't the Higg's particle/field. I can completely agree with that. That was the distinct impression that Weinberg (speaking of the electroweak force) made on me when I read "Dreams of a Final Theory".

Hearing a rumour that both independent experiments are now at 4 standard deviations. Together it may mean that they are now at the magic 5 sigma. Any thoughts, gossip etc?

Okay, gossip in the physics community (you heard it here first on EVC!), the Higgs has probably been found. CERN is going to make an announcement on July 4th.

Yippeeee! now we can rest easy that stuff really is stuff.

I find it all rather exciting. Son, can you explain the two possibilities for what the Higgs may be like. Apparently there is one that's just a sort of dead end and the other which opens up all sorts of possibilities. I can't explain it any better since this really is beyond me.