No one has ever seen a Higgs boson. In fact, of all the particles in the Standard Model of Particle Physics arguably only the photon (a particle of light) is, in any sense, visible. All the others - quarks, electrons, mu and tau leptons, neutrinos, gluons, and W and Z bosons are effectively invisible.
As for the Higgs boson, even indirectly inferring its existence took a 40-year search with the most complex machine ever built. Its discovery in 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was considered one of the most important advances of modern physics and a huge success of the Standard Model.
Using a combination of data from ATLAS and CMS, the LHC's two biggest detectors, the Higgs detection confirmed our picture of how fundamental particles (such as quarks and electrons) acquired the properties we measure today, and how the forces of nature arranged themselves in the early Universe.
Now that we have the Higgs, researchers at the LHC have been hoping to use it to better understand the Standard Model itself or, ideally, find a hint of 'new physics' that would indicate what kind of theory might replace it. But how do we study a particle we can't see? What are we really looking at? The answers are complicated, but they touch on something much deeper: the entanglement of theoretical models and experimental data.
DR KATIE MACK
Denne historien er fra August 2023-utgaven av BBC Science Focus.
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Denne historien er fra August 2023-utgaven av BBC Science Focus.
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How Light's 'Secret Code' Reveals the Story of the Cosmos- The starlight we can see tells us a lot about the Universe, but it's the parts we can't see that contain the biggest revelations
When you see photos from a modern telescope of a planet, nebula or distant galaxy, it's easy to be dazzled by the detail. But what astronomers get really excited about is a property of the light our eyes can't see: the spectrum. This secret code embedded in starlight can tell us not only what a celestial object is made of, but also the story of our cosmic past.Back in the 18th century, scientists discovered that each substance produced its own pattern of colours when it was burning. It turns out that each element, when heated, emits light at certain colours specific to that substance.
Major Stonehenge Discovery Deepens Mystery Around Ancient Monument - New findings suggest a key six-tonne stone came from over 450 miles north of the circle
Cue the conspiracy theories: new research reveals that one of Stonehenge's central and larger megaliths came neither from England, nor Wales, but from the far northeast of Scotland - and we don't know how it got there. Experts think the six-tonne altar stone must have been dragged or floated at least 750km (466 miles) south to complete the prehistoric monument.
Do We Finally Know How the Egyptian Pyramids Were Built? - A number of breakthrough studies are beginning to paint a picture of how these wonders of the world were built, but much of the story still remains a mystery...
A number of breakthrough studies are beginning to paint a picture of how these wonders of the world were built, but much of the story still remains a mystery...How the Egyptian pyramids were built has long been a mystery. Constructed as tombs for the pharaohs over 4,000 years ago, more than 100 of them remain. The largest one, the Great Pyramid of Giza, was originally 147m tall (482ft). It's made up of about 2.3 million stone blocks, each weighing between 2.5 and 15 tonnes, and would have had to be transported to the building site and lifted into place with techniques available at the time. To put this into context, it's akin to lifting a double-decker London bus to the top of St Pauls Cathedral a few million times.
An Artificial Heart Inspired by Plumbing - Mechanical circulation could revolutionise transplant design and reduce waiting lists
Mechanical circulation could revolutionise transplant design and reduce waiting lists. In July, this artificial heart was successfully implanted, for the first time, into a patient with end-stage heart failure. Built by The Texas Heart Institute (THI) and BiVACOR, the replacement organ has been dubbed the Total Artificial Heart (TAH). Although, being an implant rather than transplant, it's designed to temporarily support patients while they wait for a real heart transplant.
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