Particle Physics is not my cup of tea by any stretch of the imagination, but just what is the “God Particle” why they are trying to find it and what its implications are for life as we know it are fascinating reading and so far into the realm of hard science that it rivals the best Asimov novel.
As a quick background, the “Higgs boson” particle is nicknamed The God Particle because its existance explains why matter has mass, beginning at the sub-atomic level. While its existence has been recently theorized, it has never been seen. The process of finding it is by crashing 2 sub-atomic particles into each other and the Higgs, if it indeed exists, emerges from the rubble.
In science research there are always races. This particular race to find the Higgs has been between the European CERN LHC (Large Hadron Collider) and Fermilab Tevatron accelerator. As is the case with most experimental science, serendipity plays a huge role. Fermilab must have been secretly smiling when a freak accident in the CERN system brought it down. At this point Fermilab is working feverishly. LHC is planning on working through the Christmas break (yes, Christmas 2009!) in order to bring their collider back online, and Fermilab is banking on having some quantifiable results right around then.
All this begs the question, what will this tell us about the nature of our universe and how this knowledge brings us closers to an understanding of who we are.
Dome sez – I am both mystified and intrigued by this and will continue to monitor it.
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