There’s growing excitement around the possibility that the Higgs Boson has been isolated (or “found”) with an announcement expected in the next few weeks. The Higgs (named after Peter Higgs who’s work predicted the existence of the particle) is thought to be the particle that is responsible for giving other particles mass. This is a cornerstone of the Standard ModeI of modern physics and the only particle predicted by the model that is – as yet – undetected.
At the same time, researchers at BaBar have found that B-bar mesons decay into quarks, anti-neutrinos and tau leptons more frequently than allowed for in the Standard Model. If this finding is confirmed then it would be a serious dent in the side of the Standard Model and cast doubt on its validity.
Which is right? We’ll have to wait and see. Both discoveries would be fascinating in different ways and either way you look at it, we are living in a kind of golden age of physics – with tantalizing glimpses into whole new areas of discovery.
It’s like being a kid and knowing there’s a candy store around every corner!
This is a simulated track of the Higgs Boson from the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. I love these types of images, the combination of science and artistic visualization is stunning.
