PROBLEMS WITH THE HIGGS? TWO PHOTON DECAY MAY BE SHOWING UP A BIT TOO ...

2012 was an unusual year for physics. It was, then wasn't, and then again was, the year that the God particle, the Higgs boson, the particle responsible for mass in the quantum mechanical zoo of particles, was found.

Or was it?

The problem was, or rather is, that CERN's large hadron collider found something, this much is true, and it moreover found something that looks like the Higgs. But the problem is, what it found isn't behaving exactly like the model predicted:

The Higgs Fiasco and the Electric Sun [ w/ videos]

As the article notes, the problem is that whatever it is that CERN found, it is decaying into two photons rather more often than it should, calling forth the usual response: contaminated equipment, faulty measurements, anything to save the theory itself:

"The original Higgs data from back in July had shown that the Higgs seemed to be decaying into two photons more often than it should—an enticing though faint hint of something new, some sort of physics beyond our understanding. In November, scientists at the Atlas and LHC experiments updated everything except the two-photon data. This week we learned why.

"Yesterday researchers at the Atlas experiment finally updated the two-photon results. What they seem to have found is bizarre—so bizarre, in fact, that physicists assume something must be wrong with it. Instead of one clean peak in the data, they have found two. There seems to be a Higgs boson with a mass of 123.5 GeV (gigaelectron volts, the measuring unit that particle physicists most often use for mass), and another Higgs boson at 126.6 GeV—a statistically significant difference of nearly 3 GeV.

"This is explained as “a statistical fluke” or the result of a mechanical error. The CERN Large Hadron Collider team has announced that it will iron out these problems before March, when it plans to announce its success in finding the elusive particle."(Emphasis in the original)

This, as the article avers, is a rather profound problem, for whatever CERN found, it is sending mixed messages about its mass, which seems to vary depending on how it is measured.

The article then goes on to note that this could spell a problem for the standard model, indeed, it begins by noting Dr. Michio Kaku's assessment of the importance of the Higgs:

"Famed physicist and science writer Michio Kaku said it best: if physics doesn’t discover the Higgs Boson Particle it would be a “disaster” for modern physics. The entire edifice of cosmology we’ve been taught to believe real – from the Big Bang to black holes, dark matter and dark energy, it all collapses."

Now, readers of my books will know that I have some cautious problems with the standard model, and one of the problems I have with it is the same as that which the plasma cosmologists/electric universe advocates have, namely, the excessive mathematical formalism of much of modern theoretical physics. It is, as I've said elsewhere, metaphysics, with equations.

But I am far from jumping on the bandwagon of their model either, even though it does have some attractive elements. The reason why is rather simple, and it's best we remind ourselves of what it is: the standard model has been eminently successful in its predictions and its utility.

And one of the most signal successes of that model has been the uncertainty principle itself, namely, the idea that one cannot predict the position and velocity of a particle at the same time, and thus, the experimenter or observer actually plays a significant role in the formation of measurable reality itself.

It may turn out that what CERN may really be seeing, therefore, are not so much statistical flukes, nor even a challenges to the standard model, but rather (and with a big "perhaps') a new extension of the uncertainty principle itself with respect to mass(and that, of course, would have huge implications). If that be the case, then, yes, aspects of the standard model may have to be extended and other aspects profoundly modified... almost certainly. But it's far too early to leap on an alternative bandwagon. Indeed... what may be needed is really a synthesis of the contending cosmologies...

And for that, folks, we'll need another Newton, another Einstein, another Heisenberg, another Bell (and I don't mean the Nazi one either!)

See you on the flip side.

Joseph P. Farrell

Joseph P. Farrell has a doctorate in patristics from the University of Oxford, and pursues research in physics, alternative history and science, and "strange stuff". His book The Giza DeathStar, for which the Giza Community is named, was published in the spring of 2002, and was his first venture into "alternative history and science".

16 Comments

  1. terminally skeptical on January 16, 2013 at 10:35 pm

    I know a few people who are cosmetologists and they are all of the mind that the Higgs Boson fad will have the same fate as the Greaser look, Beatle cut, mullet, spikes, etc.



  2. Antoine on January 16, 2013 at 7:52 pm

    May I refer you all to today’s Leonardo Da Vinci’s opinion on the subject? Please follow him down the rabbit hole here….

    http://milesmathis.com/higgs3.pdf

    This is from his lists
    http://milesmathis.com/updates.html

    He’s like acid being poured on the frothing mouth of today’s magical physicists.



  3. duncan mckean on January 14, 2013 at 8:34 pm

    only people that understand cosmology are cosmologists.the plasma/electric version sure gets the heart beating faster.present model will collapse imo.the science is soo internally politically motivated it will take some time.



  4. Tor on January 14, 2013 at 12:35 pm

    Rome built a civilization with aqua ducts, by channeling water. I wonder if they got the idea from their ancient counter parts, who channeled the electric universe and built a type 3 civilization. Always seems to be this need to scale it down and promote this Malthusian scarcity religion. Economics! The science of how societies manage their scarce resources. Competition Competition….Competition for resources! Survival of the fittest killer! Work harder…Get more resources, worthless feeder, and then maybe you’ll be fit to live.



    • jedi on January 14, 2013 at 3:11 pm

      the stars are strung like pearls on a string…..



  5. bdw000 on January 14, 2013 at 8:43 am

    “the standard model has been eminently successful in its predictions and its utility.”

    But ‘useful’ for what?

    There is very little done at CERN that is useful for most humans living their lives. Most of recent particle physics only helps particle physicists do more “particle physics.”

    Most, if not all, of what they learn at CERN, will only have practical applications at the energy levels produced at CERN, which means that only if you have a CERN in your basement, will you ever be able to use any of it. And CERN’s are very, very expensive.

    BOTTOM LINE: places like CERN are simply “metaphysical factories” that produce theories for physicists to play around with (using BILLIONS AND BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars).

    There are no practical applications, unless they are keeping the REAL stuff secret.



    • photios on January 14, 2013 at 10:00 am

      Useful for what?

      Well think about it. If you are able to understand the principles that underlie what we mean by matter and energy, then what does that entail about the engineering of those principles in application? Are they not in some sense limitless?



      • bdw000 on January 15, 2013 at 6:02 pm

        And what I said was that the engineering of any practical applications will require trillions of electron volts to use.

        Do YOU keep trillions of electron volts in your basement, or your car, or your iPad?????

        If not, how are you going to apply anything learned by using trillions of electron volts.

        I am not making an absolute claim here (and this is not my idea), but the likely reality is that any real, practical applications from CERN are very unlikely except in the context of having trillions of electron volts handy.

        Again, uless the real research is being kept hidden from us.



    • LSM on January 14, 2013 at 10:31 am

      “There is very little done at CERN that is useful for most humans”- you know it-

      ” There are no practical applications, unless they are keeping the REAL stuff secret”- I know I tend to repeat myself but see above under concept “you know it”



  6. Robert Barricklow on January 14, 2013 at 8:38 am

    One scientist’s intriquing analyses, had to do with the geometry of a circle; wherein, he examined one circle, then two, then three(sphere), then, as the model continuing changing in “dimensional” viewpoints, it began to look like a CERN paticle-geometric-display of a collision signature.
    Dr. Farrell’s point, of “the” observer effecting the outcome, per the “signature” of the uncertainty principle, is extremely significant.
    This is what I truly get a kick out of at this site: the observations “here” are not only out-of-the-box-, they’re dazzling in their own individual “signatures”.



    • jedi on January 14, 2013 at 12:12 pm

      now if we could only get the particles on the main sphere all resonating to the same frequency, now that would be music ….the sound of silence.

      Check out a old sci fi movie called “the silent earth”.



      • Robert Barricklow on January 14, 2013 at 1:21 pm

        Thanks for the tip jedi, it’s now on my ‘radar’.



      • Robert Barricklow on January 18, 2013 at 4:22 pm

        Shoot.
        Now I remember. A young Bruce Dern starred.
        An old classic.



  7. jedi on January 14, 2013 at 7:03 am

    oh bouy, thats a real plan et changer.



  8. LSM on January 14, 2013 at 5:56 am

    if there is truth to this report it looks like CERN may hibernate for two yrs.-

    http://www.mail.com/int/business/economy/1799450-atom-smasher-hiatus-sets-stage-discovery.html#.1612-stage-set1-2

    question is: why?- technical problems?- maybe, maybe not- or were they getting too close to something that was even too hot for them to deal with at the moment and need to re-group their ducks before future research continues?- don’t know for sure but haven’t ruled that out



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