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[Remalle]

All hail our new God Particle overlords!

(inb4 the mass media misunderstand and sensationalize the discovery)

[Loud Whispers]

All hail our new God Particle overlords!

(inb4 the mass media misunderstand and sensationalize the discovery)

HIGGS BOSON PARTICLE DISPROVES GRAVITY!

[Jackrabbit]

Colleague: They found it!
Siquo: Well, for certain levels of "found". In QM there's levels at which the probability of it existing reaches almost certain, and then it's considered to be "found".
C: Well it's still awesome!
S: (Oh this is going to be good) Why?
C: Because it does the mass! And now we can use the negative! We'll be flying in a few years!
S: *mental facepalm* *Confidence in colleague just went to -10* Well, they've got three years until my skateboard.
C: *laughs* Exactly.
*Confidence just went back up to normal levels, because he knew instantly what I was referring to*

I am not exactly like your colleague except for the ways in which I totally am. I've got to admit, I can't be much more than a science enthusiast in regards to this. I have only a basic idea of what it is, I have a smidgen of a clue as to what it means, but I know for a fact that it's really friggin' cool.

[MaximumZero]

I fucking love !!SCIENCE!!

[Lagslayer]

/pessimism
I figure it'll probably end up being what the previously smallest observed particles are made of. I'm not really holding my breath.
/end pessimism

[Criptfeind]

What do you mean? This is not really like that at all. It's not some big thing that is overturning all of science.

[Leafsnail]

Yeah they've checked this one pretty damn carefully and it matches all their predictions for what the Higg's particle would do.  It certainly isn't covered by anything we already know about.  If it were to turn out like the neutrinos it would have to be one hell of an electrical fault to make a completely mundane collision look exactly like the thing they are looking for.

[Moghjubar]

For enthusiasts: http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t2#/video/bestoftv/2012/07/04/nr-intv-michio-kaku-higgs-boson.cnn

[MetalSlimeHunt]

All hail our new God Particle overlords!

(inb4 the mass media misunderstand and sensationalize the discovery)

HIGGS BOSON PARTICLE DISPROVES GRAVITY!

BREAKING NEWS ON FOX: HIGGS BOSON PROVES EXISTENCE OF GOD

For enthusiasts: http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t2#/video/bestoftv/2012/07/04/nr-intv-michio-kaku-higgs-boson.cnn

Oh god, do not post things involving Michio Kaku. He is a hack of the highest order.

[MonkeyHead]

I am having a hard time telling the jokes and misconceptions apart here guys... so I will avoid wading in and causing arguments.

[RedKing]

All hail our new God Particle overlords!

(inb4 the mass media misunderstand and sensationalize the discovery)

HIGGS BOSON PARTICLE DISPROVES GRAVITY!

"GOD" PARTICLE PROVES GOD EXI--oh damn. MSH beat me to it.


Okay...let me start with the disclaimer that I've never taken a physics course in my life. Not even high school. That said...if I understand the conception of the Higgs boson as the particle mediator of the Higgs field, which in turn imbues particles with the property of mass, isn't that analogous to electrons acting as the mechanism of an electric field? Which would suggest that there would be ways to manipulate the Higgs field in a given region to increase or decrease mass, just as an electric field can be externally manipulated.

I guess what I'm asking is, is this going to make Mass Effect look really, really prescient or is there some key component I'm missing here that would essentially make it impossible to manipulate the Higgs field?

[Heron TSG]

Well, the Higgs particle isn't the mediator of the field, it is the field. The field is seemingly made of Higgs-Bosons. I've heard is described as a sheet of falling sand - a tennis ball thrown through it won't slow down because of a field, but because of the density of particles before it.

[RedKing]

Okay...so then the question still stands: would there be a way to manipulate the field? Increase/decrease the density of the field by increasing/decreasing the number of bosons?

I guess the problem that I'm seeing is that the boson is neutral in so many respects that there's not an easy "handle" to manipulate it with. Spin-neutral, electrically neutral, colour-charge neutral, is its own antiparticle, etc.

I'm also wondering...since matter has constant mass, but the Higgs boson has an infinitesmally small life before decaying, does that mean a never-ending waterfall of Higgs bosons being generated in the background of the universe? How are they generated and from what source? And at such a smoothly constant level that you don't detect minute fluctuations in mass from everything?

[Moghjubar]

Oh god, do not post things involving Michio Kaku. He is a hack of the highest order.

I was going to preface with *not for people that kinda sorta know whats going on* but figured labeling it for enthusiasts only was good enough.

Yes, he appears a bit quacky, at least from a handful of things I've seen. Of course, I haven't done any thorough investigation of him so...

Also: http://www.andrewdyck.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101209.gif

[alway]

I'm also wondering...since matter has constant mass, but the Higgs boson has an infinitesmally small life before decaying, does that mean a never-ending waterfall of Higgs bosons being generated in the background of the universe? How are they generated and from what source? And at such a smoothly constant level that you don't detect minute fluctuations in mass from everything?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_particle
Virtual particles are pretty much the reason for any sort of 'force' enacted from a distance. Even a perfect vacuum is a sea of virtual particles.

Balancing the equations of uncertainty.