[News-releases] Land, Ho! Voyage of Discovery Sights the Higgs

[Tim Meyer]

News Release | For Immediate Release | July 4, 2012, 1:00 a.m. PDT

LAND, HO!  VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY SIGHTS WHAT COULD BE THE HIGGS
Canadians Key Part of Historical Science Breakthrough

(Vancouver, BC) --- Early this morning, the ATLAS and CMS particle-physics
experiments at the LHC accelerator at CERN presented their latest results in
the hunt for the Higgs boson with thousands of viewers from around the world
at a global press conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Both experiments
observe a new particle in the mass region around 125-126 GeV consistent with
the Higgs.  Across Canada, hundreds have played critical roles in this
breakthrough and are now celebrating. 

"We observe in our data clear signs of a new particle, at the level of 5
sigma, in the mass region around 126 GeV. The outstanding performance of the
LHC and ATLAS and the huge efforts of many people have brought us to this
exciting stage," said ATLAS experiment spokesperson Fabiola Gianotti, "but a
little more time is needed to prepare these results for publication."  Five
sigma corresponds to a certainty that the odds are less one in 3.5 million
that this observation is simply produced by chance. 

More than a 150 Canadian scientists and students are involved in the global
ATLAS experiment at CERN. TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle
and nuclear physics, has been a focal point for much of the Canadian
involvement that has ranged from assisting with the construction of the LHC
accelerator to building key elements of the ATLAS detector and hosting one
of the ten global Tier-1 Data Centres that stores and processes the physics
data for the team of thousands.  

Likening the quest for the Higgs to Christopher Columbus's voyage of
discovery to the New World, Nigel S. Lockyer, director of TRIUMF, said,
"With ATLAS and the LHC, we set sail in the direction toward what we thought
was the land of the Higgs. Last December, we saw a smudge on the horizon and
knew we could be getting close to land. With these latest results, we've
seen the shoreline! We know we’ll make it to dry land, but the ship is not
in to shore just yet." 

The results presented today are labeled preliminary. They are based on data
collected in 2011 and 2012, with the 2012 data still under analysis.
Publication of the analyses shown today is expected around the end of July.
A more complete picture of today’s observations will emerge later this year
after the LHC provides the experiments with more data.

"The observation of a new particle at about 125 GeV, or 130 times the mass
of the proton, by both the ATLAS and CMS groups is already a tremendous
achievement," said Rob McPherson, spokesperson of the ATLAS Canada
collaboration, a professor of physics at the University of Victoria and
Institute of Particle Physics scientist. "While our preliminary measurements
show this new particle is consistent with the Higgs boson, we need more data
to be sure that it is definitely the Higgs."

The next step will be to determine the precise nature of the particle and
its significance for our understanding of the universe. Are its properties
as expected for the long-sought Higgs boson, the final\ missing ingredient
in the Standard Model of particle physics? Or is it something more exotic?
The Standard Model describes the fundamental particles from which we, and
every visible thing in the universe, are made, and the forces acting between
them. All the matter that we can see, however, appears to be no more than
about 4% of the total. A more exotic version of the Higgs particle could be
a bridge to understanding the 96% of the universe that remains obscure.

"We have reached a milestone in our understanding of nature," said CERN
Director-General Rolf Heuer. "The discovery of a particle consistent with
the Higgs boson opens the way to more detailed studies, requiring larger
statistics, which will pin down the new particle’s properties, and is likely
to shed light on other mysteries of our universe."

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TRIUMF						
Dr. Tim Meyer			
Head of Strategic Planning & Communication
TRIUMF					
Phone: +1 604.222.7674	
Cell: +1 650.464.8955
E-mail: tmeyer at triumf.ca

LHC and ATLAS CANADA
Professor Robert McPherson
ATLAS-Canada Spokesperson
University of Victoria / IPP
Phone: +1 604.222.7654
Cell: +1 604.723.2294
E-mail: rmcphers at uvic.ca

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Timothy I. Meyer, Ph.D.
Head, Strategic Planning & Communications TRIUMF -- Accelerating Science for
Canada |
    Un accélérateur de la démarche scientifique canadienne
4004 Wesbrook Mall
Vancouver, BC  V6T 2A3  CANADA
Tel: 604-222-7674
Fax: 604-222-3791
Cell: 650-464-8955
E-mail: tmeyer at triumf.ca
WWW: http://www.triumf.ca
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