Higgs in Space - FERMI satellite could beat LHC
source: http://io9.com/5425953/what-if-the-large-hadron-collider-was-beaten-to-the-physics-punch
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- pjacobs51
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The mooted risks of the Large Hadron Collider are all worthwhile if it uncovers evidence of the Higgs boson, right...? But what if something else found that proof first, and without all the sturm-und-drang?
New Scientist reports on the possibility that NASA's FERMI satellite may be about to do that very thing, according to researchers for the University of California, Irvine. FERMI was created to detect gamma rays, and one of the expected sources of these rays is the annihilation of dark matter made up of "weakly interacting massive particles." Except, the researchers believe, the annihilation of these particles may also result in the creation of one photon and one giant particle... like the Higgs boson. According to the team's Tim Tait:
If there is a strong connection between the physics of dark matter and the physics of mass generation, those dark matter particles probably like to interact with the Higgs boson... FERMI has very good prospects of discovering the Higgs if this model is true.
Other scientists accept that this theory may not be entirely outside the realms of possibility. There's even a chance that the satellite has already discovered it, and we haven't realized it yet; FERMI has already captured data, but scientists haven't gone through it entirely. LHC scientists: The race is on.
http://io9.com/5425953/what-if-the-large-hadron-collider-was-beaten-to-the-physi...
New Scientist reports on the possibility that NASA's FERMI satellite may be about to do that very thing, according to researchers for the University of California, Irvine. FERMI was created to detect gamma rays, and one of the expected sources of these rays is the annihilation of dark matter made up of "weakly interacting massive particles." Except, the researchers believe, the annihilation of these particles may also result in the creation of one photon and one giant particle... like the Higgs boson. According to the team's Tim Tait:
If there is a strong connection between the physics of dark matter and the physics of mass generation, those dark matter particles probably like to interact with the Higgs boson... FERMI has very good prospects of discovering the Higgs if this model is true.
Other scientists accept that this theory may not be entirely outside the realms of possibility. There's even a chance that the satellite has already discovered it, and we haven't realized it yet; FERMI has already captured data, but scientists haven't gone through it entirely. LHC scientists: The race is on.
http://io9.com/5425953/what-if-the-large-hadron-collider-was-beaten-to-the-physi...
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- groups:
- Community, Current Tonight, Upstream, Science, 2 more
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- tags:
- higgs boson, God particle
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versasrev
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I'm not fond of the tone of this article, as the LHC can give us information that the fermi sattelite can not. But in the end it really doesn't matter the more tools we have to use the better.
- 2 years ago
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versasrev
