| So, what's going on in Cern, Switzerland? are | | | | often nicknamed the "God particle". After |
| some mad scientists going to create a black | | | | more than 40 years of research, and billions |
| hole and destory the earth? That's what some | | | | of pounds, scientists have yet to prove that |
| people think. Others have just the opposite | | | | it is real. But Professor Higgs, 78, now |
| idea. The 40-year hunt for the holy grail of | | | | believes the search is nearly over. |
| physics - the elusive "God particle" that is | | | | |
| supposed to give matter its mass - is almost | | | | The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is almost |
| over, according to the leading scientist who | | | | ready to debut. After more than a decade of |
| first came up with the theory. | | | | effort, and something north of |
| | | | $5,000,000,000.00 US$ value |
| Peter Higgs, whose work gave his name to the | | | | |
| elusive Higgs boson particle, said that he | | | | A new atom-smasher that will be switched on |
| was more than 90 per cent certain it would be | | | | near Geneva later this year is virtually |
| found within the next few years. | | | | guaranteed to find it, he said. It is even |
| | | | possible that the critical evidence already |
| The Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive | | | | exists, in data from an American experiment |
| scalar elementary particle predicted to exist | | | | in Illinois that has yet to be analysed |
| by the Standard Model of particle physics. It | | | | fully. |
| is the only Standard Model particle not yet | | | | |
| observed, but would help explain how | | | | Tantalising glimpses of the boson from other, |
| otherwise massless elementary particles still | | | | less powerful particle accelerators, have |
| manage to construct mass in matter. | | | | suggested that unequivocal evidence should |
| | | | emerge almost immediately when the LHC begins |
| The Higgs boson was the professor's elegant | | | | its experiments. The Higgs boson is hard to |
| 1964 solution to one of the great problems | | | | detect because it is hypothesised to exist |
| with the standard model of physics - how | | | | only at very high energies, which last |
| matter has mass and thus exists in a form | | | | existed in nature in the moments after the |
| that allows it to make stars, planets and | | | | Big Bang, hence the need for an atom smasher. |
| people. He proposed that the universe is | | | | |
| pervaded by an invisible field of bosons that | | | | But will this big smasher, smash us in the |
| consist of mass but little else. | | | | process? Can we play God? We'll soon find |
| | | | out. |
| Without trying to get too technical, bosons | | | | |
| operate differently, very differently than | | | | Basically, the LHC will fire beams of protons |
| other particles (fermions) do. As particles | | | | around a 17-mile underground tunnel before |
| move through this field, bosons effectively | | | | these collide at close to the speed of light |
| stick to some of them, making them more | | | | to release vast bursts of energy. Four vast |
| massive, while leaving others to pass | | | | caverns hold sophisticated detectors that |
| unhindered. Photons, light particles that | | | | will track the particles produced by the |
| have no mass, are not affected by the Higgs | | | | collisions. If Higgs turns out to be right, |
| field at all. | | | | "I will certainly open a bottle of |
| | | | something", he said. If the boson is not |
| What's all this mean? | | | | found, however, "I should be very, very |
| | | | puzzled. If it's not there, I no longer |
| The mysterious boson postulated by Professor | | | | understand what I think I understand." |
| Higgs, of the University of Edinburgh, has | | | | |
| become so fundamental to physics that it is | | | | Now there's a TRUTH for us all- for sure! |