Confirmed: CERN discovers new particle likely to be the Higgs boson (VIDEO)

Published: 04 July, 2012, 11:58
Edited: 04 July, 2012, 20:01

Two teams of scientists at CERN have confirmed the discovery of a new subatomic particle, which may well be the elusive Higgs boson, also known as “the God particle”.

­"I can confirm that a particle has been discovered that is consistent with the Higgs boson theory," said John Womersley, chief executive of the UK's Science & Technology Facilities Council.

The result is still preliminary, but “it's very strong and very solid,” according to Joe Incandela, spokesman for one of the two teams hunting for the Higgs particle.

The CMS team is confident about its findings, which they say leave only a one in two million chance that the result they received could have happen if no Higgs boson existed.

Both teams put the mass of the new particle at around 125 gigaelectronvolts (GeV) – corresponding to the predicted mass of the Higgs boson.

The discovery is the strongest-yet in favor of the particle’s existence.

The search for the Higgs boson has been, as the scientists' presentation said, the work of thousands of people over many years, and lots of hours without sleep as they were probably justified in pointing out. They have been searching not just for the mysterious Higgs Boson particle, but specifically for the 'Standard Model Higgs'. There is not just the particle, but also the theoretical model about its properties that the British scientist Peter Higgs has become so famous for.

The Higgs boson is the last subatomic elemental particle predicted by the Standard Model to be discovered experimentally.

FULL STORY: http://www.rt.com/news/cern-conference-higgs-boson-378/