'God Particle' Buzz at Fermilab

Elusive Higgs boson signal would confirm particle physics model
By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 13, 2010 4:33 AM CDT
'God Particle' Buzz at Fermilab
Fermilab scientists work in the control room of the collider searching for the Higgs boson.   (AP Photo/Fermilab)

Take that, Large Hadron Collider: Just as the particle accelerator at the Fermi national lab in Illinois was about to be retired in favor of the bigger LHC, rumor has it that the Fermi accelerator, the Tevatron, has found the long-sought Higgs boson, also known as the "God particle." An Italian physicist wrote on his blog that two different sources told him "an experiment at the Tevatron is about to release some evidence of a light Higgs boson signal."

The "God particle" is the only particle in the standard theory of particle physics that has yet to be discovered. Finding it would confirm the theory, while ruling out its existence would undermine the model. The particle is said to explain why other particles have mass, the Telegraph reports. More news on the Higgs boson is expected at an international physics conference that opens next week in Paris.
(More God particle stories.)

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