Search may continue for the ‘god particle’.
The discovery of the so-called ‘god particle’ may still be out of our reach, says an international research team.
The European Organisation of nuclear research, CERN, completed a set of calculations concerning the particle found last year which yielded a strong indication that it was, in fact, the sought-over Higgs boson particle. The Higgs boson is important to our knowledge about how matter can exist and it also helps complete the physics theory known as the Standard Model. There is still a good chance that it’s the famous “god particle,” but researchers are now saying that it may just as likely be something else.
The proposal was published in the journal Physical Review D, where the articles’ authors expressed their concern that, although the data may point to the Higgs boson in certain respects, it points equally to other theories as well. One of the members in the team is Mads Toudal, a professor at the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics Phenomenology at the University of Southern Denmark.
“The CERN data is generally taken as evidence that the particle is the Higgs particle. It is true that the Higgs particle can explain the data but there can be other explanations — we would also get this data from other particles,” said Toudal.
The study did not debunk the idea that the discovery was not the Higgs boson but simply pointed out the fact that the Standard Model was not the only contender, and there are many other theories that may want to lay claim to this find as evidence for their theories. They argue that the data are simply not indicative enough to rule out other theories. It seems that perhaps the excitement may have allowed scientists to overlook this.
This is highlighted when we look at how Discovery Magazine reported on the subject with the headline, “It was definitely the Higgs boson,” in their online issue June 25, 2014. This means that the celebrations may have to wait, and the standard model might not be as complete as once thought just a few months ago.
The standard model is a model in physics that deals with the fundamental forces of nature and uses particles to explain these forces. It has been very successful, having had many predictions satisfied, such as the finding of the Tau Neutrino in 2000.
Clearly, if it turns out that this is not the Higgs boson, many scientists will be disappointed and will have to go back to the drawing board to figure out how they can better confirm these results. The international research group has proposed that it may be something called a techni-higgs particle, which is not a fundamental particle but may help us explain what dark matter is.
It seems that standard model hopefuls may be left with more work to do on the Higgs boson discovery and still have to contend with their “theory of everything” as “the theory of almost everything.”
