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Credit & Copyright: Jorge Cham,
PHD Comics
Explanation:
What is all this fuss about the Higgs boson?
The physics community is abuzz that a fundamental particle expected by the largely
successful
Standard Model of
particle physics may be soon be found by the huge
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at
CERN in Europe.
The term boson refers to a type of fundamental particle with similarities to the
photon, while Higgs refers to
Peter Higgs, a physicist who
among others published research predicting the
mechanism through which such a particle might act.
The above animated cartoon explains in
humorous but impressive detail
why the
Higgs boson is expected, and
one method that the
Large Hadron Collider is
using to find it.
Although some
rumors
hint that preliminary traces of the
Higgs
boson are already being found, even
not
finding this
unusual particle would
open the door to a new
fundamental understanding of how our
universe works.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day