December 25, 2024 01:31 am (IST)
LHC experiments join forces to zoom in on the Higgs boson
Geneva, Mar 17 (IBNS) During the 50th session of "Rencontres de Moriond" in La Thuile Italy, Atlas and CMS presented for the first time a combination of their results on the mass of the Higgs boson.
The combined mass of the Higgs boson is mH = 125.09 ± 0.24 (0.21 stat. ± 0.11 syst.) GeV, which corresponds to a measurement precision of better than 0.2%.
The Higgs boson is an essential ingredient of the Standard Model of particle physics, the theory that describes all known elementary particles and their interactions.
The Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism, through which the existence of the Higgs boson was predicted, is believed to give mass to all elementary particles. It is the most precise measurement of the Higgs boson mass yet and among the most precise measurements performed at the LHC to date.
“Collaboration is really part of our organization’s DNA”, said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. “I’m delighted to see so many brilliant physicists from ATLAS and CMS joining forces for the very first time to obtain this important measurement at the LHC.”
The Higgs boson decays into various different particles.
For this measurement, results on the two decay channels that best reveal the mass of the Higgs boson have been combined (Higgs boson decaying to two photons and to 4 leptons, leptons being electron or muon here).
Each experiment has found a few hundred events in the Higgs to photons channel and a few tens in the Higgs to leptons channel, using the data collected at the LHC in 2011 and 2012 at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, having examined about 4000 trillion proton-proton collisions.
The two collaborations worked together and reviewed the analyses and their combination. Experts of the analyses and of the different parts of the detectors that play a major role in this measurement were closely involved.
“The Higgs Boson was discovered at the LHC in 2012 and the study of its properties has just begun. By sharing efforts between ATLAS and CMS, we are going to understand this fascinating particle in more detail and study its behaviour”, said CMS spokesperson Tiziano Camporesi.
“CMS and ATLAS use different detector technologies and different detailed analyses to determine the Higgs mass. The measurements made by the experiments are quite consistent, and we have learnt a lot by working together, which stands us in good stead for further combinations.”, said ATLAS spokesperson Dave Charlton.
The Standard Model does not predict the mass of the Higgs boson itself and therefore it must be measured experimentally. However, once supplied with a Higgs mass, the Standard Model does make predictions for all the other properties of the Higgs boson, which can then be tested by the experiments. This mass combination represents the first step towards a combination of other measurements of Higgs boson properties, which will involve also the other decays.
"While we are just getting ready to restart the LHC, it is admirable to notice the precision already achieved by the two experiments and the compatibility of their results. This is very promising for LHC Run 2”, said CERN Director of Research Sergio Bertolucci.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Latest Headlines
Elon Musk's SpaceX launches Indian satellite on Falcon 9 rocket
Tue, Nov 19 2024
Elon Musk's SpaceX collaborates with ISRO to launch GSAT-20 communications satellite this week
Sun, Nov 17 2024
ISI Kolkata's Prof Neena Gupta wins Infosys Prize 2024 for her exemplary work in the field of Mathematical Sciences
Fri, Nov 15 2024
My body has changed but I weigh same: Sunita Williams on health rumours after 150 days in space
Thu, Nov 14 2024
Science and Technology Minister Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurates centenary celebrations of iconic 'Bose-Einstein' Statistics
Thu, Nov 14 2024
Exploring the Research on Vialox Peptide
Thu, Oct 24 2024