Tuesday, December 13, 2011

LHC press conference: Have they found the Higgs particle?

Credit: CERN.
There was a press conference today at 2 p.m.  The range in which the Higgs particle could exist is narrowed to 115 to 130 GeV with 95% confidence. The mass of the Higgs appears to be around 125-126 GeV, but more data needs to be taken to declare a detection.

What is the Higgs boson?
The Higgs boson is a spin zero, scalar particle that is necessary to explain how most elementary particles obtain their mass in the Standard Model. The Higgs mechanism gives mass to every elementary particle that couples with the Higgs boson including the Higgs itself.

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