Champagne on ice?
So results just released from the Tevatron experiment in the US strongly support last December's announcement from the LHC – it's looking promising that the Higgs boson exists and that it has a mass around 125GeV. But as we explained in our previous news story, Countdown to the Higgs, the level of evidence produced so far doesn't count as a discovery. Physicists will only declare they have discovered the Higgs boson if they are 99.99995% confident of their result – the elusive five-sigma level.
And we might not have to wait much longer. Excitement is mounting about tomorrow's announcement of the latest results from the LHC. You can watch the seminar at 8am and press conference at 10am BST live from CERN. And to whet your appetite here are some new articles explaining exactly what the Higg's particle is, does and how they are hunting for it. We're just off to put some champagne on ice...
Our favourite particle physicist, Ben Allanach, explains exactly what they are looking for at the LHC. Welcome to the world of quantum jelly....
Secret symmetry and the Higgs boson: Part I and Part II
The notorious Higgs boson, also termed the god particle, is said to have given other particles their mass. But how did it do that? In this two-part article we explore the so-called Higgs mechanism, starting with the humble bar magnet and ending with a dramatic transformation of the early Universe.
What does all this talk about sigma levels mean? It turns out that finding the Higgs is not so much a matter of catching the beast itself, but keeping a careful count of the evidence it leaves behind.
The LHC gave particle physicists an early Christmas present last year – the first glimpses of the Higgs boson.