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DENVER — The discovery of the Higgs boson is tangible . But physicist are cagey about whether the new particle they ’ve feel will fit their predictions or not .
So far , the data suggest that the Higgs , the particle thought to explain how other particles get their hatful , is not presenting any surprisal , physicist say here today ( April 13 ) at the April meeting of the American Physical Society . But that does n’t mean that it wo n’t in the hereafter — or that there might not be other Higgs bosons linger out there .
Proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider show events consistent with the Higgs boson particle.
" There ’s a large phone number of theoretical models that predict , actually , that this Higgs theater of operations is more complicated , " said Markus Klute , a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . Some of these hypothesis predict five or more Higgs boson of different hoi polloi , Klute tell apart reporters . [ The Top 5 Implications of discover the Higgs ]
The mystery story of the Higgs
Physicistsconfirmed in Marchthat a new particle discovered at the world ’s big molecule smasher , the Large Hadron Collider ( LHC ) , is , in fact , the Higgs boson . This particle , which press about 126 times the mass of a proton , appears to fit the Standard Model of physics , the dominant hypothesis of atom aperient . In this poser , the Higgs boson is interrelate to the Higgs field of view , an vim champaign that interpenetrate space and is thought to interpenetrate many particles with mass . The thought goes that just as swimmers would get wet move through a puddle , as speck move through the Higgs subject field they would gain mass .
This"vanilla " Higgshas been something of a disappointment to physicists hoping to regain something that would upend their theory .
" Sometime in November , I was depressed a piddling chip by the fact that everything line up so well , " Klute said . " They call this ' post - discovery slump . ' "
But researchers say there ’s more to learn about the Higgs , including whether it ’s the only one . It ’s possible that when the Large Hadron Collider revs up again in 2015 with more power , scientists may be capable to detect heavier variations of the Higgs boson . Or variations may be hiding in the data collect already .
" As far as ' Is the Higgs standard or not standard , ' we ’re not in the secret plan yet , " enjoin Michael Peskin , a physicist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University . " We will be in the secret plan later this decade , but right on now it ’s just an loose head . "
A secondary spike in Higgs data give in December 2012 led to hypothesis that physicist had perhaps found a 2d Higgs boson of a different mess . However , that spike show up in only one LHC experiment . Other lines of grounds produce at the collider have go wrong to show like anomaly .
question ahead
The 17 - mile - long ( 27 kilometers ) underground loop that is theLarge Hadron Collideris currently close down until 2015 as engineers tinker to bring the atom smasher to its fullest potential . Upping the vigour levels of the LHC will allow for more collision , and up to five times the preciseness in measurements as go through today , Klute enjoin .
One pop theory physicists hope to put to an data-based exam is " supersymmetry , " which hold that every subatomic particle has a secret twin that has yet to be remark . " Superpartners " could facilitate explaindark topic , a mystic substance that may makes up a quarter of the entire universe .
So far , physicists can only describe for 4 percent of what the cosmos is made of , said Thomas Koffas , a physicist at Carleton University in Canada .
" The stay 96 per centum , " Koffas say , " we have no idea . "
