Hunt for Higgs Particle Looks Forward to July 4
Scientists searching for the so far elusive Higgs Boson particle, also referred to as the "god particle" by some researchers, are gearing up for what could be an historic moment next week when new test results are released.
Researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research or CERN outside of Geneva on July 4 will make public the outcomes of a series of tests all dedicated to finding the Higgs particle. There are many in the scientific community that are anticipating positive results from this most recent test given the successfulness of the last announcement back in December.
However, others are stating that while eagerness heightens exciting times, steadier heads should prevail until all the data is looked over.
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"It's still premature to say anything so definitive," according to CERN spokesman James Gillies, who added that two teams which are currently involved in analyzing data and cannot draw any conclusions until the results of both teams are vetted and then brought together.
The actual process of finding the Higgs particle occurs inside the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It is the world's largest accelerator. It is comprised of a 17-mile loop which is located more than three hundred feet underground.
In order to simulate the first few early moments of the universe two beams of charged particles are fired in opposite directions around the loop so that the particles will collide and create billions of smaller particles while also releasing immense amounts of energy.
The data that is collected is then analyzed by many super computers, which track each particle in the LHC in an attempt to find the Higgs Boson.
"It's like smashing watermelons together and trying to achieve a perfect collision for two of the pips inside," Jordan Nash, professor at London's Imperial College and member of a research team looking for the Higgs particle, told Reuters.
