Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Chapter: CMS. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

Geneva, Switzerland - July 4, 2012

Higgs within reach
Our understanding of the universe is about to change…

The ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN today presented their latest results in the search for the long-sought Higgs boson.

A proton-proton collision event in the CMS experiment producing two high-energy photons (red towers). This is what we would expect to see from the decay of a Higgs boson but it is also consistent with background Standard Model physics processes. Courtesy of CERN

Both experiments see strong indications for the presence of a new particle, which could be the Higgs boson, in the mass region around 126 gigaelectronvolts (GeV).

Speaker: CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. CERN. LHC Seminar. Chapter: Introduction. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

The experiments found hints of the new particle by analysing trillions of proton-proton collisions from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2011 and 2012.

The Large Hadron Collider Courtesy of CERN

The Standard Model of particle physics predicts that a Higgs boson would decay into different particles – which the LHC experiments then detect.

Accelerators were invented to provide energetic particles to investigate the structure of the atomic nucleus. Since then, they have been used to investigate many aspects of particle physics. Their job is to speed up and increase the energy of a beam of particles by generating electric fields that accelerate the particles, and magnetic fields that steer and focus them. Courtesy of CERN

Both ATLAS and CMS gave the level of significance of the result as 5 sigma on the scale that particle physicists use to describe the certainty of a discovery.

CERN’s accelerator complex is a succession of particle accelerators that can reach increasingly higher energies. Each accelerator boosts the speed of a beam of particles, before injecting it into the next one in the sequence. The complex also includes the Antiproton Decelerator and the ISOLDE facility and feeds the CNGS project and the CLIC test area (CTF3). Courtesy of CERN

One sigma means the results could be random fluctuations in the data, 3 sigma counts as an observation and a 5-sigma result is a discovery.

The accelerator complex Courtesy of CERN

The results presented today are preliminary, as the data from 2012 is still under analysis.

Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Chapter: CMS. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

The complete analysis is expected to be published around the end of July.


About CERN

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics.

It has its headquarters in Geneva.

At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Romania is a candidate for accession.

Israel and Serbia are Associate Members in the pre-stage to Membership.

India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.

CERN experiments observe particle consistent with long-sought Higgs boson

At a seminar held at CERN today as a curtain raiser to the year’s major particle physics conference, ICHEP2012 in Melbourne, the ATLAS and CMS experiments presented their latest preliminary results in the search for the long sought Higgs particle.

Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Chapter: CMS. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

Both experiments observe a new particle in the mass region around 125-126 GeV.

Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Chapter: CMS. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

“We observe in our data clear signs of a new particle, at the level of 5 sigma, in the mass region around 126 GeV. The outstanding performance of the LHC and ATLAS and the huge efforts of many people have brought us to this exciting stage,” said ATLAS experiment spokesperson Fabiola Gianotti,
“but a little more time is needed to prepare these results for publication.”

Speaker: Fabiola Gianotti CERN. LHC Seminar. Chapter: ATLAS. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

"The results are preliminary but the 5 sigma signal at around 125 GeV we’re seeing is dramatic. This is indeed a new particle. We know it must be a boson and it’s the heaviest boson ever found,” said CMS experiment spokesperson Joe Incandela.
“The implications are very significant and it is precisely for this reason that we must be extremely diligent in all of our studies and cross-checks."

Chapter: CMS CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

“It’s hard not to get excited by these results,” said CERN Research Director Sergio Bertolucci.
“ We stated last year that in 2012 we would either find a new Higgs-like particle or exclude the existence of the Standard Model Higgs. With all the necessary caution, it looks to me that we are at a branching point: the observation of this new particle indicates the path for the future towards a more detailed understanding of what we’re seeing in the data.”

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

The results presented today are labelled preliminary.

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

They are based on data collected in 2011 and 2012, with the 2012 data still under analysis. Publication of the analyses shown today is expected around the end of July.

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

A more complete picture of today’s observations will emerge later this year after the LHC provides the experiments with more data.

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

The next step will be to determine the precise nature of the particle and its significance for our understanding of the universe.

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

Are its properties as expected for the long-sought Higgs boson, the final missing ingredient in the Standard Model of particle physics?

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

Or is it something more exotic?

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

The Standard Model describes the fundamental particles from which we, and every visible thing in the universe, are made, and the forces acting between them.

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

All the matter that we can see, however, appears to be no more than about 4% of the total.

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

A more exotic version of the Higgs particle could be a bridge to understanding the 96% of the universe that remains obscure.

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

“We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer.
“The discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger statistics, which will pin down the new particle’s properties, and is likely to shed light on other mysteries of our universe.”

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

Positive identification of the new particle’s characteristics will take considerable time and data.

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

But whatever form the Higgs particle takes, our knowledge of the fundamental structure of matter is about to take a major step forward.

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

Chapter: CMS Speaker: Joseph Incandela CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

CERN. LHC Seminar. Geneva. July 4, 2012. Courtesy of CERN

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