Today In Long Reads: Dramatizing The Hunt For The Higgs Boson
Higgs Candidate Event A proton-proton collision event in the CMS experiment produces two high-energy photons (the red towers). This is what physicists would expect to see from the decay of a Higgs boson, but it is also consistent with background Standard Model physics processes. CERNFor physicists, it was "an appointment with destiny." Physicists still get frustrated when people say the Higgs boson has been found--true, it's very probably been found, but the only thing that's been verified yet is that a boson has been discovered. Its mass is right around where the Higgs ought to be, and it sure seems like a Higgs boson, but no one is calling it final, at least not yet. Nevertheless, the tales of intrigue and jealousy and genius surrounding the hunt for the particle are coming to light in new books and periodicals. The latest comes today from the dean of physics journalism, Dennis Overbye...