The "God" Particle: the Real Story

If you've ever wondered why scientists are spending close to ten billion dollars to build an underground, 17 mile long, high-speed merry-go-round for subatomic particles called the LHC (Large Hadron Collider), here is part of the answer - they are looking for the "God" particle. But before you get your hopes up that science and religion are getting set to put down their arms and coexist in peaceful harmony, it should be noted from the outset that the term "God" is merely used to denote the importance of the particle - it has no religious context.  Its real identity is a hypothesized elementary particle called the Higgs boson.

The Higgs boson is predicted to exist by the quintessential theory of particle physics called the Standard Model. So far, the Higgs boson is the only particle in the Standard Model that has not been observed in experiment. Nonetheless, the Standard Model has significant credibility because it has successfully predicted the existence of several particles, including quarks, before they were actually observed, and so most scientists are confident that the Higgs boson is real. The particle is significant physically because it is believed that it plays an integral role in endowing mass to the universe. Its discovery will also advance the legitimacy of the Standard Model as a "Theory of Everything". However, despite accounting for the electromagnetic, weak and strong nuclear forces, the Standard Model does not include an explanation of the fourth fundamental force, gravity.

So how exactly does the LHC plan to find the Higgs boson? The LHC works by sending beams of matter traveling at close to the speed of light in opposite directions around the 17 mile in circumference circular accelerator, and then smashing these beams into each other to create an incredibly high-energy collision. During the collision some of the matter decays into its smaller constituents, which can then be observed by advanced detectors. What makes the Higgs boson especially difficult to observe is that its predicted properties dictate that it will only appear at very high energies and that it will decay very quickly into other particles. Other particle accelerators, such as the Tevatron in Illinois, do not operate at high enough energies to materialize the Higgs boson. The LHC, meanwhile, is designed for such energies.

As of right now, the LHC has not found conclusive evidence for the observation of the God particle. However, the LHC is still not at full operating power, and is not expected to reach this point for at least another several months or years. In the interim, there are many other exciting potential discoveries that the LHC can make, including the detection of alternate dimensions. Check back for a more detailed post about the LHC.