As the Large Hadron Collider was shut down for the holidays, scientists at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) reported on Tuesday that they had caught a brief glimpse of what could turn out to be a new particle.
Researchers involved with both experiments at the Geneva-based particle accelerator, CMS and ATLAS, gathered together to announce the first set of findings since the LHC underwent a major upgrade earlier this year, according to Nature and New Scientist.
Those findings included what Nature referred to as “an intriguing if very preliminary whiff of a possible new elementary particle,” but little else. Both the CMS and ATLAS detectors have seen an unexpected excess of proton pairs—each packed with roughly 750 gigaelectronvolts (GeV) of energy, in the debris of proton-proton collisions—the publication’s website noted.
This could be the first indication of a new particle that that would weigh the equivalent of about 1,500 GeV and would decay into two equal-mass photos, according to the researchers. While it would be a boson, much like the Higgs boson discovered by CERN in 2012, the particles would not necessarily be similar. In fact, the new one would be far more massive.
Not enough evidence to support theory of supersymmetry
The yet-unconfirmed boson would be nearly nine times more massive than the heaviest particle previously discovered at the LHC—the top quark—and a dozen times larger than the Higgs, which is often referred by the sensationalistic but not entirely inaccurate name, the “God particle.”
According to New Scientist, CMS team member Jim Olsen from Princeton University kicked off proceedings by presenting results confirming the standard model of particle physics, which helps show that the Collider’s new run is performing up to expectations. As of yet, Olsen said that they do not have enough data to “rediscover” the Higgs, but that it should happen in 2016.
He also presented findings of another potential particle—a particle that CERN researchers dubbed “the edge.” Finding such a particle would support the theory of supersymmetry, which would, in turn, extend the standard model to a series of heavier partner particles. While proving that such a particle exists is a top priority for the LHC, scientist have found no solid evidence thus far.
ATLAS scientist Marumi Kado of the Linear Accelerator Laboratory in Orsay, France reported similar findings. They confirmed the standard model and said that they had started to see signs of the Higgs boson, and what they said they were able to find a slightly stronger signal in support of “the edge” than their CMS counterparts, they could not come to any concrete conclusions.
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Feature Image: CERN
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