The Particle at the End of the Universe: How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of a New World
Page 34
and electroweak unification, 235
energy/mass equivalency, 34, 57–61, 86, 142–44
and energy/wavelength connection, 126–27
fermions, 143, 294
and the Higgs boson/field, 5, 12, 27, 31–37, 35, 53–54, 58, 60, 142–46, 273
and Higgs decay modes, 173, 188
and neutrinos, 49, 49–50, 53–54, 143, 294
and particle accelerators, 57–61
and particle spin, 283–92, 287
and superconductivity, 214–15
and symmetry, 36, 212–13, 217–20, 218, 223, 225
and volume of particles, 28
matter, 5, 11, 28, 130, 131–33. See also fermions
Maxwell, James Clerk, 121–22
McAlpine, Kate, 205–6
media and public attention to physics
and black hole panic, 189–91
and blogs, 198–200, 200–202, 202–4
and the entertainment industry, 204–8
and Higgs boson announcement, 135–36
mischaracterization of research, 273
and OPERA experiment findings, 195–97
and publishing process, 192–95
and rumors, 202–4
Megatrek computer system, 179–80
mesons, 48, 50, 96, 238, 294–95
metric tensor, 124
Migdal, Alexander, 228
Miller, David, 137
Mills, Robert, 154–55, 158, 212–13
Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, 258–59
“Miracles” (Insane Clown Posse), 115–16
MoEDAL (Monopole and Exotics Detector At the LHC), 97, 98
“More is Different” (Anderson), 219
Morrison geological formation, 94
M-theory, 265
multiverse theories, 265–67, 268
Munch, Walter, 207
muons
and cosmic rays, 48, 106
detectors, 107, 107, 108–9, 109
and Higgs decay modes, 173
and mass, 145
muon neutrinos, 67, 159
and particle detectors, 96, 105–6
and resting value of Higgs field, 146
and symmetry, 149, 159
Nambu, Yoichiro, 215–17, 219, 224, 239, 261
Nambu-Goldfield bosons, 217, 219–20, 223–24
Nanopoulos, Dimitri, 174
National Academy of Sciences, 205
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 70, 251
National Journal, 273
National Science Foundation (NSF), 207
Nature, 279
Neddermeyer, Seth, 48
neutralinos, 258, 259, 261
neutrinos
discovery of, 19
and evidence for the Higgs boson, 96
generations of, 49
and Higgs decay modes, 171, 173
mass of, 49, 49–50, 53–54, 143, 294
and neutron decay, 47
and OPERA experiment findings, 195–97
and particle detectors, 104–5, 109
and particle spin, 286, 292
and proton decay, 46–48
types of, 48
neutrons
and atomic structure, 10–11, 42–43
constituent quarks, 294
mass of, 60, 145
neutron decay, 46–47, 131–34, 230
and quarks, 51
and symmetry-breaking, 154–55
and total mass of ordinary matter, 247
and weak interactions, 32
neutron stars, 124, 200–201
Neveu, André, 262
New Scientists, 200
news media. See media and public attention to physics
Newton, Isaac, 21, 118–20, 123, 125, 222
Newtonian mechanics, 128
New York Times, 203
Nielsen, Holger, 261
Nobel, Alfred, 210, 237
Nobel Dreams (Taubes), 179–80
Nobel Prizes in Physics
and the Bevatron, 56
and Brookhaven National Lab, 67
for cosmic acceleration, 255
criteria for selection, 210–12
for dark energy, 221
establishment of, 210
for gluon fusion, 168
for hadron discoveries, 30, 106
for Higgs boson, 239–41
Lamb on, 50
for neutrinos types, 19
for parity violation, 155
for photoelectric effect, 127
for quark discovery, 66–67
for relativity confirmation, 124
for symmetries of weak interactions, 158
for W and Z bosons discoveries, 62, 80, 237
and World War II, 209–10
Not Even Wrong (blog), 202
nuclear forces, 30–31, 117, 213. See also strong nuclear force; weak nuclear force
nuclear fusion, 272
nuclei of atoms, 28, 42
nucleons, 42
nucleosynthesis, 247
Oliver, John, 189–91
O’Neill, Gerard K., 62
Oort, Jan, 244
OPERA experiment, 195–96
Oppenheimer, Robert, 156
Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire, 61
Ørsted, Hans Christian, 121
Ouellette, Jennifer, 204, 205
“Out of Control” (report), 71
outreach, 207–8
Overbye, Dennis, 203
paleontology, 93–94
parity, 158, 231–32
Park, Bob, 72
Particle Fever (film), 207–8
partons, 101–2, 102, 129
Pastore, John, 269
Pauli, Wolfgang, 46–47, 155–56, 212, 228–29
Pauli exclusion principle, 131
“Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics” (PAMELA), 200–202
peer-review, 192–95
periodic table of the elements, 10
Perlmutter, Saul, 255
photoelectric effect, 127, 164
photons
and electromagnetism, 29
and electron orbits, 145
and electroweak unification, 235
and field/particle duality, 125–26
and gravity, 143
and Higgs decay modes, 16, 171, 173, 173, 184–88, 202, 249–50
and the Higgs mechanism, 224
masslessness of, 143
and neutron decay, 132–33
and particle detectors, 96, 104, 108–10
and particle spin, 53, 285, 286, 288
and the photoelectric effect, 127
and quantum field theory, 33
and Schwinger’s model, 231
and supersymmetry, 258, 259
Physical Review Letters, 223, 224
Physics Letters, 223–24
Picozza, Piergiorgio, 201
“pileup,” 102, 182, 185
pions, 295
Pius XII, Pope, 22
Planck, Max, 126–27, 128
Planck scale, 254, 260
Planck’s constant, 284
planetary motion, 118–20
Polchinski, Joseph, 265
politics, 1–2, 17–18, 24, 69–73, 82
Politzer, David, 30
Polyakov, Alexander, 228
positrons
discovery of, 44–46, 46, 97
and linear accelerators, 66
and PAMELA experiment, 200–201
and particle detector findings, 104
potential energy, 140
Preposterous Universe (blog), 198
“Primeval Atom” theory, 22
probability, 111, 129, 167–68, 168. See also statistical analysis
Project Exploration, 93–94
proton-antiproton colliders, 80, 90
protons
and atomic structure, 10–11, 42
constituent particles, 101, 166, 294
energies achieved in the LHC, 86–88
mass of, 60, 145
and neutron decay, 133–34
and particle accelerators, 58, 63
and quarks, 51, 67
relativity effects, 101–2, 102
and symmetry-breaking, 154–55
and total mass of ordinary matter, 247
Proton Synchrotron, 61
publicity and public relations. See media and public attention to physics
quanta, 126
A Quantum Diaries Survivor (blog), 198
quantum field theory
and field values, 253
and the Higgs field, 32–34
and infinite-answer problem, 229
and neutron decay, 131–33
and particle accelerators, 57
and particle spin, 285, 288
and spacetime dimensionality, 263
summarized, 36
vibrations in fields, 131–33
and Ward identities, 233
and wave functions, 129
quantum gravity, 254, 262, 264, 267
quantum mechanics
analogy for, 128–30
and atomic structure, 41–42
and black hole radiation, 211
Coleman on, 281
and energy/wavelength connection, 125–26
and experimental results, 14
and field/particle duality, 125–26
and field theory, 33
fuzziness of, 34
and gravity, 25, 29
and particle spin, 129, 283–85
and probability, 111
and spontaneous symmetry-breaking, 227
and statistical analysis, 178–81
and virtual particles, 101
quantum uncertainty, 35
quarks
and atomic structure, 10–11, 28
color labels, 50–51, 51, 149, 153, 172, 216, 257, 259, 294
and connection fields, 153
and creation of Higgs bosons, 166–67, 169
and dark matter, 251
described, 293
discovery of, 19
and Feynman diagrams, 168
and Higgs decay modes, 171, 171–74, 187
and mass, 53, 143, 145, 294
and neutron decay, 133–34
and nuclear forces, 30
and particle detectors, 96–97, 103, 104
and particle spin, 285, 286, 291–92
and proton collisions, 102
and proton structure, 101
and quantum field theory, 129
quark-gluon plasma, 97–98
and the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC), 67
and resting value of Higgs field, 146
and the Standard Model, 26, 51, 198
and the strong nuclear force, 41
and supersymmetry, 259
and virtual particles, 51, 101
See also specific types of quarks
quench, 76
Rabi, I. I., 48
radiation and radioactivity, 29, 41, 131–32, 250
radio waves, 122
Ramond, Pierre, 262
Randall, Lisa, 265
Reagan, Ronald, 69
reconciliation, 218–21
Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC), 67, 69
relativity
and “aether” theory, 139
and creation of Higgs bosons, 166
effect on protons, 101–2, 102
and gravity, 29
and the Higgs mechanism, 225
Nobel Prizes for, 124
and particle mass, 58, 142–44
and resting value of Higgs field, 139, 273
and superconductivity, 215
and symmetry, 220–21, 223
and velocities in the LHC, 86–87
relic abundance, 246
religion and physics, 21–22, 22–24
renormalization, 229, 235, 236, 239
Riess, Adam, 255
Rohlf, James, 180
Rome, 279
Royal Academy of Sciences, 209–10
Rubbia, Carlo, 62, 80–81, 90, 179–80, 237
Rubin, Vera, 243–44
Rutherford, Ernest, 41, 46
Sagan, Carl, 280
Sakurai Prize, 240
Salam, Abdus, 162, 217, 225, 233–37
Savage, Christopher, 250
scalar bosons
and the Higgs mechanism, 224
and particle spin, 286, 289–90
and spontaneous symmetry-breaking, 217–18, 218, 225
scalar fields
and development of the Higgs model, 222, 223–24
and particle spin, 286, 292
and spontaneous symmetry-breaking, 217–18, 218
and supersymmetry, 260
and vacuum energy, 256
Scherk, Joël, 262
Schmidt, Brian, 255
Schmitt, Michael, 203
Schriffer, Robert, 214
Schwartz, Melvin, 48, 67
Schwarz, John, 262–63
Schwinger, Julian, 213, 219–20, 223, 229–32, 230
Schwitters, Roy, 71
Science and Entertainment Exchange, 205
scientific method, 175–76, 266, 280–81
scintillation, 251
Scott, Ridley, 205
Segrè, Emilio, 56
Shaggy 2 Dope, 115–16
Shaposhnikov, Mikhail, 266
sigma intervals, 176–78, 177
SLAC Linear Accelerator Center, 66–67
Smoot, George, 21
solar energy, 30
Soviet Union, 228
spacetime, 124, 263–64, 264, 286
special relativity, 123, 127–28
spin of particles
and degrees of freedom, 288–90
described, 285–88
and fermions, 158, 285–86, 290–94
and gravity, 52, 286, 291
and helicity, 290–92
intrinsic spin values, 287
and mass, 283–92
of massless particles, 158
and parity violation, 231–32
right-hand rule, 286
spin statistics theorem, 286
and superconductivity, 215
Standard Model
and the Big Bang, 161
and bosons, 52–54, 53
and dark matter, 245–47, 249
fields specified in, 252
and Higgs decay modes, 171, 186, 188
and the Higgs field, 137
and the Higgs mechanism, 224
and human biology, 280
and leptons, 49
and particle detector findings, 103
and particle spin, 286
physics theories beyond, 17
and properties of the Higgs boson, 11–12, 26–27, 37, 55, 169, 245
and quantum field theory, 33
and quarks, 26, 51, 198
and statistical analysis, 179
and supersymmetry, 257, 259
theory finalized, 8
and weak interactions, 230, 235, 280
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), 66–67
statistical analysis
and discovery of the Higgs, 181–85, 187–88
and OPERA experiment findings, 196
and particle accelerator results, 64–65
and particle decay, 54
and quantum mechanics, 178–81
and significance intervals, 175–78, 177, 181–85, 196–97
statistical vs. systematic error, 197
and threshold for discovery, 16, 165
Steinberger, Jack, 48, 67, 79
Stewart, Jon, 190–91
strange quarks, 50, 51, 146, 158, 294
string theory, 117, 261–64, 267
strong nuclear force
and charge of particles, 43
and dark matter, 247–48
and fermions, 293
and Higgs decay modes, 172
and mass of ordinary matter, 145
/>
and mass of particles, 273
and particle detector findings, 103, 104–5
and particle spin, 291
and quantum field theory, 130
and quarks, 41
range of, 30
and resting value of Higgs field, 146
and string theory, 262
and supersymmetry, 257
and symmetry, 152, 213
and Yang-Mills theories, 156
Strumia, Alessandro, 201
Sundance Film Festival, 208
Sundrum, Raman, 265
superconducting magnets, 75–77, 88–90, 274
Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), 1–2, 17, 24, 69–73, 80, 234–35, 270, 275
superconductivity, 211–15
supergravity theory, 265
superpartner particles, 257–59, 259
Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), 62, 90
superstring theory, 262, 265
supersymmetry, 257–61, 259, 262, 268, 286
Susskind, Leonard, 261
symmetry and asymmetry
analogy for lay audience, 137–39
and the Big Bang, 160–61
and connection fields, 152, 152, 162
and electroweak unification, 232–34
“flavor” symmetries, 150
and gauge bosons, 52, 160, 213
and the Higgs boson, 12
and the Higgs field, 52, 146, 147, 147–50, 156–60, 162, 273–74, 278, 289, 292
local symmetries, 151, 154–55, 211, 222, 289
and matter-antimatter ratio, 268
and particle spin, 289
summarized, 36
and superconductivity, 211–15
supersymmetry, 257–61, 259, 262, 268, 286
symmetry-breaking, 52, 147, 147–53, 156–60, 162, 215–18, 218–21, 225, 233, 235–36, 292
and weak interactions, 150–53, 154–56
Synchrocyclotron, 61
Taubes, Gary, 179–80
tau leptons
discovery of, 49, 66
and Higgs decay modes, 170, 171, 199
interaction with Higgs boson, 143
and mass, 145
and particle detector findings, 104, 180
and resting value of Higgs field, 146
and symmetry, 149, 159
tau-antitau pairs, 171, 172, 173, 187
tau neutrinos, 41, 159
taxes, 270
Taylor, Joseph, 124
Taylor, Richard, 66
“technicolor” models, 268
technological applications of physics research, 271–72, 274–75
The Telegraph, 78, 163
Teresi, Dick, 20, 25
Tevatron
competition with LHC, 65
described, 68
and Higgs decay modes, 199
maximum energies achieved, 86
as predecessor of the LHC, 16
and search for the Higgs, 68–69
and top quark discovery, 136–37, 198
theology and physics, 21–22, 22–24
theory of everything, 262
“A Theory of Leptons” (Weinberg), 235–37
‘t Hooft, Gerard, 236, 238, 239
tidal forces, 63–64
time travel, 196
Tkachev, Igor, 266
Tomonaga, Sin-Itiro, 213, 229