Large Hardon Collider

[Woozie]

I don't know why you would ever think that, woozie.

You did call me that once. I'm trying to remember where, but for some reason I had posted something that had my name on it, and I remember you saying "I'm going to start calling you Lawlrenzo".

[Kuya]

I call you Lawlrenzo because i love you, woozie.

[Woozie]

My bad, I thought it was some sort of puerto rican code for "destroy!!" or "off with his head!". Everyone knows Puerto Ricans can't be trusted.

[Quicklet]

It's in Portland, OR, so not so close. I may or may not submit an abstract but the only issue really is it'd be a far trip and I'm not sure I'd be able to get funded for the travel.

[Woozie]

Why didn't you come to the march meeting in Pittsburgh this year? We could have hung out. Talk about science, and beat up steelers fans together. Would have been fun.

I'm actually hoping that I'm able to go to the National Society of Black Physicists in D.C. next year because that's close enough so that both me and Mizango could go. Funding is probably going to be an issue though. If half of our department was going, it would be easy to find funding, but I'm the only black guy in the department, so yeah...

What kind of research do you do? What would you be presenting if you went?

[Kilhart]

So applicable to the previous conversation (and a fun read too):

The Last Question -- Isaac Asimov

I both love and despise that story. If only the ending were true lol

[Waef]

I both love and despise that story. If only the ending were true lol

I love it as well. I just wish I could read it again and again without knowing the ending.

[Khamsin]

So, we colliding any hadrons yet? We can't let this sink to page 2 until we start seeing some Higgs bosons!

[Nuker]

kinda silly question...but assuming we do find a higgs boson...what does it mean? i mean besides that obvious..what can we extract from it, and what can we further more understand.

[Max™]

If the higgs is correct, it is the particle that gives mass to all other particles.

You could do silly stuff, anti-grav, flying houses, FTL travel, if you really think about it.

If it exists.

[Khamsin]

kinda silly question...but assuming we do find a higgs boson...what does it mean? i mean besides that obvious..what can we extract from it, and what can we further more understand.

It means that the current prevailing assumptions about our world and how it works is correct. If no higgs boson is found, then the model will need to be adjusted, and *gasp* science is wrong (for now).

[Mizango]

You have to believe in the heart of the Bosons.

[Deftscythe]

As long as you guys are answering layman's questions, if the higgs is so important to matter in the universe, shouldn't they be everywhere? Why does it take this huge device for one to be observable?

[Eliseos]

Because they are so small that it takes that much energy (in theory) to observe one. Think of it like smashing two watches together, the harder you collide them, the more gears/pieces of gears/pieces of pieces of gears you see.

[Deftscythe]

Because they are so small that it takes that much energy (in theory) to observe one. Think of it like smashing two watches together, the harder you collide them, the more gears/pieces of gears/pieces of pieces of gears you see.

I see. Thanks for the explanation, though it seems rather unscientific when put that way; like some kind of nintendo mini-game, smash the particles together with your wiimote and hope the rare item pops out, lol.

[Kryssan]

You have to believe in the heart of the Bosons.

Personally, I'm more for boson jumping.








Ah, for anime sexual snafus.

[Woozie]

kinda silly question...but assuming we do find a higgs boson...what does it mean? i mean besides that obvious..what can we extract from it, and what can we further more understand.

Most importantly, the higgs boson is an essential ingredient of the Standard Model. The Standard Model is basically a general description of all matter, energy, and interactions in the small scale. It's supposed to be the theory of our universe on the small scale. The Higgs Boson is such an important piece of the Standard Model that we can't really feel that it's "complete" until we can experimentally find the Higgs Boson. It's the only particle of the Standard Model that hasn't been experimentally observed yet.

The Standard Model has been incredibly successful at explaining our universe and making new predictions. It's pretty much the standard at which any other small-scale theory is judged. If you're inconsistent with the standard model , you're wrong as far as particle physicist are concerned (within the appropriate energy scales. Every expects that the Standard Model will break down at some point though).

However, the Standard Model is far from perfect. For one, it's sort of an ad hoc theory. It relies on so many different parameters and constants that we physicist arbitrarily set to just the right value so that it gives us good answers. When you start to really look at the Standard Model, it really doesn't look like a satisfactory theory. It just seems way to...I don't know, I guess "ad hoc" really is the best way to describe it.

There's also issues related with point particles and renormalization. Renormalization is basically when you take equations that are non-sense (i.e. infinite), sweep the infinities under a rug, and say "tada! all clear" . Over the past few decades, there has been lots of rigorous mathematical treatment of renormalization, so most physicist don't view it as harshly as they used to. But nonetheless, we all wish deep down inside that renormalization would just go away.

There are a few other big problems with the standard model, but nonetheless, it is still an incredibly successful theory, and the Higgs Boson is an incredibly important part of an incredibly successful theory.

Even outside of the Standard Model, the Higgs Boson is a fundemental aspect of many theories that attempt to describe our universe on the small scale. The LHC is guaranteed to have an incredible impact on our understanding of the universe, regardless of whether or not it finds the Higgs. If it doesn't find the Higgs, it blows a huge whole into the Standard Model (because it means that either the Higgs doesn't exist, or at least gives us a good idea of it's energy (which tells us other important things about it). And if the LHC does find the Higgs, then we've just experimentally verified the origins of mass itself. This will affect every single other theory out there in some dramatic way. Also, it would be the only spin 0 boson in existence, which by itself makes it very interesting to theorist.

I see. Thanks for the explanation, though it seems rather unscientific when put that way; like some kind of nintendo mini-game, smash the particles together with your wiimote and hope the rare item pops out, lol.

Actually, that pretty much is all they're doing lol. But, as in Eliseos' example, if the only way to understand watches were to smash them apart and see what pieces come flying out, then we really have no other choice.

[Psion]

So would finding the higgs prove or disprove string theory? :3

Or would it do neither? lol

[Mizango]

String theory is a whole different rodeo, you'd need much more than an elusive God particle to prove that.

[Khamsin]

String theory is a whole different rodeo, you'd need much more than an elusive God particle to prove that.

What would you need to disprove it?