"Back in April, rumors were flying around the particle physics community about a tiny "bump" spotted in the data from Fermilab's CDF collaboration that seemed to indicate the presence of new particle, possibly even the elusive Higgs boson -- that thing that gives mass to all the other particles, and the last remaining piece to be found to complete the Standard Model.
"So what has the Tevatron discovered?
"In a nutshell, after colliding protons and antiprotons in the Tevatron over and over again, a peculiar pattern started to emerge. After the proton-antiproton collisions took place, a flash of energy caused other particles to form. The vast majority of these post-collision particles were expected to appear, abiding by the theoretical framework of the Standard Model."
I initially wrote about the rumor mill regarding the LHC possibly finding the Higgs Boson. This possibility is not bad for an accelerator due to shut down in September of this year...
From the link: "The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s Tevatron will shut down by the end of September, the U.S. Department of Energy has announced, dashing hopes that the 25-year-old atom smasher in Batavia, Ill., might win a transatlantic race to find the most sought-after elementary particle in high-energy physics."
The shutdown will most likely go unabatted. The afterlife, once proven true, will affect everything we know and teach about physics for years to come.
Discovery Links:
Fermilab's 'Bump Hunters'
What Has the Tevatron Really Discovered?
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