Will the LHC find the Higgs Boson?

Will the LHC find the Higgs?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 19 39.6%

  • No - it doesn't exist.

    Votes: 8 16.7%

  • No - it exists but the LHC does not have the capacity to find it.

    Votes: 2 4.2%

  • No - it exists but will always defy attempts at observation

    Votes: 1 2.1%

  • Thanks to rigorous and robust tort reform, discoverability is prohibited on Planet X

    Votes: 18 37.5%
  • Total voters
    48

dogjones

Graduate Poster
dogjones
Joined
Oct 3, 2005
Messages
1,303
It looks like the search is ever-narrowing for the Higgs boson:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com...n-the-most-outrageous-bet-in-physics-history/

Some may think this means its discovery is just around the corner, others may think that the likelihood of us finding it is decreasing. What do you think, will Stephen Hawking win his bet or will he be eating quark?

Incidentally, does anyone know if Hawking has a rigorous basis for his Higgs skepticism? Or is he just being contrarian? A cursory google doesn't reveal much.

ETA: I went for Planet X cos... I dunno
 
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Yeah, gotta go with Planet X too. I really don't know enough about the field, let alone the particulars, to make an informed decision aside from Planet X.
 
I don't know.

Missing poll option: If we knew what the results would be, we wouldn't have needed to build it.
 
phunk said:
I don't know.

Missing poll option: If we knew what the results would be, we wouldn't have needed to build it.
Click to expand...

Sure. Although this didn't stop Hawking and Kane having their wee bet.
 
Impossible to say on the avaible data. Ask again about a years time. Untill then all is so much speculation.
 
Will the LHC find the Higgs?
Click to expand...

No, but the researchers employing it may.

ETA: I voted 'planet X' simply because there was no 'ice cream' option.
 
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Why? Have they lost one?
I had a box of the things. Must be here somewhere...
 
Intriguing - a subject that I would have thought this forum of all forums was very into, and only twenty votes. Hence the bump!

Any missing poll options would be most welcome?

Physics debates rage here, but they tend to be (most illuminating for the layman such as me) debates about crackpot theories. But nonetheless I'm rather surprised that this poll didn't generate much debate. Is it too mainstream or something?

I remain,

rather surprised,


Dog
 
I'd prefer that they don't find it, but find a whole bunch of other stuff instead. That's because I'd like some of our current understanding of the structure of reality to be wrong and hopefully more interesting.

Hmm, I'd say it probably exists though. Whether the LHC can find it or not is a bit more up in the air (it might well require higher energies). If it doesn't find it, then it will probably be 50+ years before it is found, maybe a lot longer.
 
I suppose the general view is - if it's there, they probably will and if it's not, then they won't. But they will probably find other cool stuff while looking.
 
dogjones said:
Intriguing - a subject that I would have thought this forum of all forums was very into, and only twenty votes. Hence the bump!

Any missing poll options would be most welcome?

Physics debates rage here, but they tend to be (most illuminating for the layman such as me) debates about crackpot theories. But nonetheless I'm rather surprised that this poll didn't generate much debate. Is it too mainstream or something?

I remain,

rather surprised,


Dog
Click to expand...

Those that understand these things better than me think it is likely to be found. That is basically all I have to go on.
 
Helpful article in today's Observer.

Only a very narrow range of Higgs targets are now left – and some scientists are beginning to get twitchy, including Murray. "In 1993, I got a job by telling people that I wanted to find the Higgs," he says. "It is only in the last month that I have started to think that it might not exist after all."

Murray is not alone. "In the last year, we have eliminated most energy ranges that could contain the Higgs," says Sergio Bertolucci, Cern's director of research. "It is like pumping water out of a pond. We have virtually emptied the pond and have only a couple of muddy puddles left in which to find the Higgs. If it is not there, we will have to admit it does not exist."
Click to expand...
 
The Higgs bosons are all being annihilated by FTL neutrinos from the future.
It's some teenage hacker in 2105 with a pocket cyclotron app for his mobile
iTeleportochronophonopad.
 
Soapy Sam said:
The Higgs bosons are all being annihilated by FTL neutrinos from the future.
It's some teenage hacker in 2105 with a pocket cyclotron app for his mobile
iTeleportochronophonopad.
Click to expand...

This is a lie

Sent from my iPad 31
 
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