World's Largest Atom Smasher May Have Detected 'God Particle'
Published April 22, 2011
LiveScience
A rumor is floating around the physics community that the world's largest atom smasher may have detected a long-sought subatomic particle called the Higgs boson, also known as the "God particle."
Aug. 7, 2010: An amateur photographer takes a picture in the assembly room of the elements of the LHC (large hadron collider) during the Particle Physics Photowalk at the European Particle Physics laboratory (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. AP
The controversial rumor is based on what appears to be a leaked internal note from physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 17-mile-long particle accelerator near Geneva, Switzerland. It's not entirely clear at this point if the memo is authentic, or what the data it refers to might mean — but the note already has researchers talking.
The buzz started when an anonymous commenter recently posted an abstract of the note on Columbia University mathematician Peter Woit's blog, Not Even Wrong.
Some physicists say the note may be a hoax, while others believe the "detection" is likely a statistical anomaly that will disappear upon further study. But the find would be a huge particle-physics breakthrough, if it holds up.
"If it were to be real, it would be really exciting," said physicist Sheldon Stone of Syracuse University.
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