Taking advantage of our day and a half off from physics talks in Grenoble, I’ve written the answers to some questions that are often asked (or should be asked) about the Higgs particle. I had planned to do a very careful job of explaining what the Higgs particle is all about — and eventually I will — but it seems as though doing something quick would be a good idea, given that the search for the Higgs particle has leapt into the news again and there’s a lot of interest in it right now. So here you go; the Higgs FAQ. I hope this is useful to you!
Category: History of Science
POSTED BY Matt Strassler
ON July 22, 2011
ATLAS reports that they have excluded Higgs with mass of 158-186 GeV but see an excess of between 2 and 3 standard deviations in the range 130-150 or so.
CMS reports exclusion of 150-183 but they see some excess in the same region of 130-150 or so, not quite as large, more like 1-2 standard deviations if my eyes do not deceive me.
This could be a badly modeled background, a statistical fluctuation, or the first sign of the Higgs particle. More data needed.
POSTED BY Matt Strassler
ON July 22, 2011
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