Tag Archives: cms

AP Exclusive: Health law cybersecurity challenges

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WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Obama administration raced to meet its self-imposed deadline for online health insurance markets, security experts working for the government worried that state computer...

Into the heart of CERN: an underground tour of the Large Hadron Collider (video)

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DNP

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

I've been to see ALICE -- though there was no looking glass to jump through, just a retina scanner and one very long elevator ride down into the earth. I've toured a CMS that has nothing to do with online publishing. I've even gently laid my body on the most powerful particle accelerator in the world and raised the ire of surrounding engineers in the interest of a good shot. I did all of this at CERN, the international particle physics laboratory located near Geneva, Switzerland. But you probably know it best as the birthplace of the world wide web and home of the Large Hadron Collider. And, yes, it was all exactly like a walking fever dream.

Gallery: CERN

Gallery: CERN Large Hadron Collider

Gallery: CERN CMS

Gallery: CERN ALICE

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Visualized: this is where the Higgs Boson was discovered

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Visualized this is where the Higgs Boson was discovered

It's not everyday you get to tour CERN, the international particle physics research facility that spans the border of both France and Switzerland. It's even more rare to go down into the sprawling facility's tunnels to see an inactive and under repair Large Hadron Collider -- currently, the world's most powerful particle accelerator. But that's just what we did this past week, as we spent some quality time with CERN's physicists and visited the dormant LHC, as well as two of its detectors: ALICE and CMS (pictured above). There'll be much more to come from our trip to CERN, so stay tuned. But for now feast your eyes on the birthplace of the Higgs Boson discovery.

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CERN confirms existence of new particle consistent with Higgs boson (video)

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CERN confirms existence of new particle consistent with Higgs boson

Physics' big announcement had more in common with a leaky product launch than the serious business of re-writing the science books. But slack asset management aside, it's official: a new boson has been observed with a standard deviation of 5 (confidence of 99.9%). The highly anticipated announcement came this morning direct from CERN's press conference (via ICHEP in Melbourne,) and is the result of an intense, ongoing search for the elusive particle. The observation is of a boson particle with a mass of 125.3 ± 0.6 GeV, at a significance of 4.9 sigma. Joe Incandela -- giving the presentation -- said that this is "In agreement with the standard model at 95% confidence range." The boson is the heaviest ever found, and although this is still a preliminary result, it's by far the strongest case yet for the existence of the elusive Higgs.

The sought-after particle is essential for supporting the current understanding of sub-atomic world, and its bearing on nuclear, and electromagnetic interactions. The next stage will be to determine the exact characteristics of the new particle and whether it matches the expectations of the Higgs, or is it in fact something more "exotic." This part will take much more time, but for now, a (very) small, but important piece of the puzzle has been found.

Update: We're sure you've got many questions, and CERN apparently anticipated this. Check out the more coverage link for a helpful FAQ about everything Higgs.

[Image credit: CERN]

Continue reading CERN confirms existence of new particle consistent with Higgs boson (video)

CERN confirms existence of new particle consistent with Higgs boson (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 03:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CERN update on its search for Higgs boson starts at 3AM ET (video)

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The cat would appear to be out of the bag, but if you must find out about the status of the Higgs boson search ASAP, check the video stream (embedded after the break) as CERN scientists reveal whatever it is they've found. The webcast is scheduled to kick off at 2:55AM ET, as a prelude to this year's ICHEP particle physics conference in Melbourne. Whenever the announcement comes we'll be sure to let you know, check the links below for more information.

Update: So yeah, they've found a new particle "consistent with Higgs boson," check out all the details here.

Continue reading CERN update on its search for Higgs boson starts at 3AM ET (video)

CERN update on its search for Higgs boson starts at 3AM ET (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 02:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Higgs boson just may, possibly, more or less be proven to exist by ATLAS and CMS teams

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Higgs boson just may, possibly, more or less be proven by ATLAS and CMS teams

We had a false alarm over the possible discovery of the theory-unifying Higgs boson last year, but a bit of poking and prodding in subsequent months may well have given us much more definitive evidence of the elusive particle. According to some rare rumors emerging from Nature, both CERN's ATLAS and CMS detectors have seen particle decay signals suggesting the existence of Higgs to within a 4.5 to 5 sigma level of proof -- in other words, very nearly concrete evidence. That's not quite the 5-plus needed to settle the matter, but it's to a much higher level of certainty than before. As if to add fuel to the fire, ScienceNews even located a briefly posted, CERN-made video (sadly, since pulled) saying bluntly that the CMS team had "observed a new particle."

Whether or not there's any substance is another matter. Nature hears that scientists are supposedly still working out what to say at an event on Wednesday, while CERN has made the slightly odd claim to ScienceNews that the yanked video is just one of several pre-recorded segments made to cover possible outcomes -- you know, in that "Dewey defeats Truman" sort of way. Unless the scientists have to go back to the drawing board, though, the focus from now on may be more on learning how Higgs behaves than its very existence. Any significant truth could see researchers proving the validity of the standard model of physics just as we're firing up our Independence Day barbecues.

Higgs boson just may, possibly, more or less be proven to exist by ATLAS and CMS teams originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 14:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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