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Ronson8 Things can only get better.
Great Old One Joined: 31 Jul 2001 Total posts: 6061 Location: MK Gender: Male |
 Posted: 09-02-2012 23:40 Post subject: |
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| TinFinger_ wrote: |
What if it was possible to inhibit objects interacting with the Higgs field?
Wouldn't that mean they would no longer have mass? |
But would they still have to go to confessional?  |
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| TinFinger_ Yeti Joined: 21 Aug 2005 Total posts: 95 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 09-02-2012 23:47 Post subject: |
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| To confess there lack of mass? |
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| Kondoru Unfeathered Biped Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Total posts: 5788 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 10-02-2012 17:42 Post subject: |
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How do you inhibit them anyway?
Tell them what they are doing is wrong?
(remember these particles are too small to be affected by conventional physics anyway.) |
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| TinFinger_ Yeti Joined: 21 Aug 2005 Total posts: 95 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 10-02-2012 18:23 Post subject: |
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im not sure maybe they can be touched at a quantum level,or maybe creating an anti boson (lol)
point is once we know they are there and exactly what they are thats not necessarily the end of the story for bosons |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 11-02-2012 13:13 Post subject: |
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| Kondoru wrote: | How do you inhibit them anyway?
Tell them what they are doing is wrong?
(remember these particles are too small to be affected by conventional physics anyway.) |
Transubstantiation might work, it would only make sense on the quantum level anyway. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 16-03-2012 17:51 Post subject: |
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Oi Scargie! Tell the snailette to get more storage space.
| Quote: | Is the LHC throwing away too much data?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328564.700-is-the-lhc-throwing-away-too-much-data.html
16 March 2012 by Lisa Grossman and Maggie McKee
Magazine issue 2856.
IT'S the sort of thing that keeps particle hunters up at night. What if the Large Hadron Collider only turns up the Higgs boson and nothing else? That nightmare would leave the hunt for new physics at a dead end - a fate that could perhaps be avoided if the LHC hung onto more of its data.
Physicists celebrate even tentative signs of the Higgs (see "Still on the run"). Thought to give all other particles mass, the Higgs is the last undiscovered particle in the standard model, our most successful theory for how particles and forces interact.
The trouble is the standard model is incomplete, since it has nothing to say about gravity or dark matter. Unfortunately, no new particles have been found that might point the way to a more powerful theory (see "11 particles for 11 physics puzzles"). "It could be the situation a year from now that nothing will be found at the LHC other than the Higgs," says Tomer Volansky of Tel Aviv University in Israel. "In that situation, we won't really know what to do next."
See graphic: "Where the Higgs could still lie"
At a meeting in La Thuile, Italy, last week, Volansky proposed a solution: the LHC, which is at CERN, near Geneva in Switzerland, should save more of its data. The accelerator's computers only record data when prompted by certain triggers, which are set for expected outcomes, like the particles produced when the simplest version of the Higgs decays. Volansky says we should look for signs of more exotic - and unlikely - physics, such as a new force beyond the four we already know. "We should drop our prejudice and look for anything that is possible," he says. "If we won't check, we won't know."
Others say it is not possible to save more data without extra funding or processing time. The LHC's CMS detector, for example, takes the equivalent of 40 million pictures, each with a resolution of 1 billion pixels, every second. "Storing all the LHC data is impractical," says Sridhara Dasu of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who helped develop the detector's trigger system.
Steven Lowette, another CMS team member at the University of California, Santa Barbara, agrees. Taking more data for one search means taking less for another. "The total will always need to fit in the same bandwidth," he says.
He adds that the hunt for the Higgs will take priority this year, but that when the LHC fires up again in 2015 after a two-year upgrade, it could start to look for more exotic physics. "Searching further in overlooked corners can always come later," Lowette says. "Bandwidth can always be reshuffled in case a new signature gains a high enough priority."
Still, saving even a little more data would give a "taste of exotic events that may encode important information", Volansky says. "No one has told us the answer [to what lies beyond the standard model], so sometimes we have to search in the dark."
Still On the run...
The most wanted particle in physics is still on the loose.
In December, each of the Large Hadron Collider's main detectors, CMS and ATLAS, reported seeing a hint of the Higgs at a mass of about 125 gigaelectronvolts, around 133 times the mass of a proton.
Now one of those groups seems to have lost the scent. At a conference last week in La Thuile, Italy, the ATLAS team reported that the statistical significance of its December signal had weakened on closer inspection.
That signal was based on only two of the Higgs's five possible decay routes, or channels - one that decays into four particles called leptons, and the other into two gamma-ray photons. The new ATLAS result involves the remaining three channels - when the Higgs decays into two W particles, two tau particles, or a bottom quark and a bottom antiquark.
Those three channels so far show no sign of the Higgs, says Sandra Kortner of the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich, Germany. But Matthew Strassler of Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, points out that these three channels create some particles that ATLAS cannot detect. That means the channels carry less information about the Higgs than the two from December, which are "the ones that will be really convincing over time", he says.
Indeed, combining all five channels still leaves room for the Higgs, says Kortner. "We still need more data to really tell." If the LHC operates as planned, the Higgs will be pinned down by the end of 2012. |
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| escargot1 Joined: 24 Aug 2001 Total posts: 17896 Location: Farkham Hall Age: 4 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 16-03-2012 21:52 Post subject: |
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| He was too busy hoovering it last week. |
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| McAvennie_ OBE Joined: 13 Mar 2003 Total posts: 2678 Location: Paris, France Age: 34 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 04-05-2012 15:54 Post subject: |
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Crikey. Hope the thing hasn't been booby-trapped... 
| Quote: | France jails Cern physicist Adlene Hicheur for terror plot
A French court has sentenced a scientist at the prestigious Cern laboratory to five years in prison for plotting terrorist attacks.
Adlene Hicheur was arrested in 2009 after police intercepted his emails to an alleged contact in al-Qaeda.
The emails suggested Algerian-born Hicheur was willing to be part of an "active terrorist unit", attacking targets in France.
Defence lawyers argued that their client had never been part of a plot.
Hicheur, who is a particle physicist, worked as a researcher studying the origins of the universe at Cern.
His father embraced him in the Paris courtroom before he was taken away to prison.
Hicheur has already spent two and a half years in jail while awaiting trial.
He came under suspicion when threatening messages were sent to President Sarkozy in early 2008.
The security services uncovered a series of email exchanges between Hicheur and an alleged al-Qaeda member called Mustapha Debchi.
After his arrest in 2009 police found a large quantity of Islamist literature at his parents' home.
At the start of his trial he admitted that he had been going through a psychologically "turbulent" time in his life when he wrote the emails, but always denied he intended to carry out any attacks. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17956202 |
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rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 09-06-2012 09:26 Post subject: |
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This novel's setting actually predates the LHC, but it could prove interesting background reading!
Steamy novel challenges Cern's serious image
The particle physics laboratories at the Cern laboratory in Switzerland may not sound like a bedrock of hard cash, fast cars and loose women.
By Nick Collins, Science Correspondent
7:30AM BST 09 Jun 2012
But a steamy new novel written by a retired physicist lifts the lid on the organisation's studious exterior to reveal an altogether more glamorous lifestyle of wild nights, adrenalin-fuelled sports and romantic trysts.
"Catalysed Fusion" is described by its author Francis Farley, 91, as a "true-to-life fantasy woven around particle physics" set in 1980s Geneva – "the city where nations meet and particles collide".
Based on 20 years of experience at the laboratory starting in its early days in 1957, Prof Farley describes a group of young researchers whose groundbreaking work and racy private lives intertwine as they enjoy the high life at Switzerland's top ski resorts and France's best beaches.
Prof Farley revealed that he even based a character on himself – Ivan, a physicist and crack glider pilot who is married to a former stripper and sets up a new lab on a nudist Mediterranean island.
He told the Daily Telegraph: "We were well paid, we had diplomatic status, no taxes. We got tax-free petrol and drinks and we went out and enjoyed life. It is obviously hyped up for the book but it is the sort of thing that went on and I am sure is still going on.
"We worked hard and then some people would go home to their families but there were lots of little floozies about and other men had a roving eye, and so did some of the women." 
Prof Farley's esteemed career includes helping to develop microwave radar to control the Dover guns in the Second World War, and winning the Royal Society's Hughes Medal in 1980 for his measurements of muons, a type of subatomic particle.
etc...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9319470/Steamy-novel-challenges-Cerns-serious-image.html |
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| TinFinger_ Yeti Joined: 21 Aug 2005 Total posts: 95 Gender: Unknown |
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| TinFinger_ Yeti Joined: 21 Aug 2005 Total posts: 95 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 22-06-2012 23:48 Post subject: |
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| sigma 5 signal and no interest ? |
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| Ronson8 Things can only get better.
Great Old One Joined: 31 Jul 2001 Total posts: 6061 Location: MK Gender: Male |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 04-07-2012 20:14 Post subject: |
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Higgs Boson: Prof Stephen Hawking loses $100 bet
When Peter Higgs first proposed that an invisible field strewn across space gave mass to the building blocks of the universe, the theory was ridiculed by some of the most respected minds of the time.
By Nick Collins, Science Correspondent
6:05PM BST 04 Jul 2012
His first paper was rejected by a journal, while other scientists accused him and his colleagues of failing to grasp the basic principles of physics.
Despite the sleights [sic] Prof Higgs, at the time an 34-year-old physicist at Edinburgh University, was convinced his idea was right although he never envisaged being able to prove it.
Yesterday, 48 years on, his radical concept was finally proved correct by an international team of physicists at the Cern laboratory using a £6 billion piece of equipment designed to uncover the secrets of the Universe.
Announcing the latest results from the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, scientists from confirmed they had discovered a new particle bearing all the hallmarks of a Higgs Boson.
The Higgs Boson helps to explain how fundamental particles gain their mass - a property which allows them to bind together and form stars and planets rather than whizzing around the universe at the speed of light.
Prof Higgs, 83, who travelled to Switerland to witness the landmark announcement first-hand, was visibly moved as the presentation was rounded off to tumultuous applause from a wildly excited audience, some of whom had waited overnight to secure their seats.
Choking back tears, he said: “I would like to add my congratulations to everyone involved in this achievement. It’s really an incredible thing that it’s happened in my lifetime.”
His response was characteristically modest. Professor Higgs has repeatedly resisted requests for interviews and comments, insisting the limelight should be taken by the scientists who have proved that his theory is correct.
He has long been uncomfortable even having his name attached to the particle, which is the key missing cornerstone of the Standard Model of physics.
The son of a BBC sound engineer from Newcastle, he was raised in Bristol and excelled at Cotham Grammar School.
During a school assembly he saw the name of a former pupil, the great quantum physicist P.A.M. Dirac, on an honours board and decided to read about his work. He was quickly hooked, reading as much as he could find about the subject to satisfy his curiosity.
He went on to King’s College, London, where he graduated with a first class honours in 1950. He was denied a lectureship at the university, however, so became a researcher at Edinburgh University.
His “eureka” moment reportedly came in a flash of inspiration while on a walking trip to the Cairngorms. When one of his initial papers was rejected, he insisted the journal had clearly not understood him.
Upon publication in 1964, he and his colleagues were ridiculed as young pretenders and urged to abandon their research or risk “professional suicide”.
Prof Gerry Guralnik, an American researcher who published a paper on the same subject with colleagues Tom Kibble and Dick Hagen within months of Higgs, recalled a galling encounter with Werner Heisenberg, the esteemed German physicist who gave his name to the famous “uncertainty principle” of quantum mechanics.
He said: “A lot of famous people told us that we were wrong. Heisenberg told me I did not understand the rules of physics, which is pretty scary if you are 26 and are worried about getting a job.”
Yesterday, the scientific community was united in its praise for Prof Higgs, with some calling for him to be given a knighthood.
Prof Stephen Hawking said Prof Higgs deserved a Nobel Prize for his work, but admitted the discovery of the new particle had come at a cost.
He said: “I had a bet with Gordon Kane of Michigan University that the Higgs particle wouldn’t be found. It seems I have just lost $100.” 
Q&A
What has been found?
Both of the Cern teams have announced the discovery of a new particle which is consistent with theories about the Higgs Boson. Although they haven’t proven it is definitely a Higgs, there is little doubt in most experts’ minds that the sought-after particle has indeed been unearthed at last.
What does it mean?
Finding the Higgs Boson proves the existence of the Higgs Field, a force which provides fundamental particles - the building blocks of the Universe - with their mass. Without mass they would simply zip around the cosmos at the speed of light and never form into stars and planets. It is also the last missing cornerstone of the Standard Model of Physics, which explains what the Universe is composed of.
Will it have any practical applications?
Immediately, no. The purpose of the research was simply to uncover one of the Universe’s great mysteries and further our understanding of science. But experts firmly believe it will be of paramount importance in future research which could provide new breakthroughs.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9376804/Higgs-Boson-Prof-Stephen-Hawking-loses-100-bet.html |
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| escargot1 Joined: 24 Aug 2001 Total posts: 17896 Location: Farkham Hall Age: 4 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 04-07-2012 22:54 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | a wildly excited audience, some of whom had waited overnight to secure their seats. |
Heh, that was me. I did that. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 21-10-2012 13:11 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | German woman fails to prove atom-smasher will end world
October 16th, 2012 in Other Sciences / Other
A woman walks past the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). A German woman who feared the Earth would be sucked into oblivion in a black hole failed Tuesday in her court bid to stop the work of the world's most powerful atom smasher.
A German woman who feared the Earth would be sucked into oblivion in a black hole failed Tuesday in her court bid to stop the work of the world's most powerful atom smasher.
The higher administrative court in Muenster, western Germany, rejected her claims, ruling there was no evidence the work of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) posed a danger to public safety.
"The plaintiff ... was worried that the experiments could produce so-called 'black holes' which could eventually lead to the destruction of all life on Earth," the court said.
However, the court noted that the CERN's own safety reports ruled out any danger to life. "Objectively, there is no evidence to doubt the correctness of these safety reports nor was any conclusive evidence presented," it ruled.
The woman had failed in a previous attempt to stop the work of CERN in Switzerland at the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe.
After a quest spanning nearly half a century, CERN scientists in July said they had found a sub-atomic particle that may be the Higgs boson or "God particle", believed to confer mass on matter.
CERN uses a giant underground laboratory where protons are smashed together at nearly the speed of light in the Large Hadron Collider, yielding sub-atomic debris that is then scrutinised for signs of the fleeting Higgs.
Other opponents have also sought to stop the experiments, fearing either a black hole whose super gravity would swallow the Earth or a theoretical particle called a strangelet that would in turn liquidise the planet.
(c) 2012 AFP
"German woman fails to prove atom-smasher will end world." October 16th, 2012. http://phys.org/news/2012-10-german-woman-atom-smasher-world.html |
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