Newsline

ILC NewsLine special issue: the higgs

 

The news was impossible to miss: LHC experiments ATLAS and CMS found a new particle in their data that could be the Higgs boson. Auditoriums were packed, excitement was high. The theorists who predicted the boson's existence received standing ovations. There was #Higgsteria on twitter – 4 July 2012 was Higgs day. Read CERN's press release or view the pictures and videos to relive the moment. But what does all this mean for the ILC? It's definitely good news. Find out how the ILC can help in the search and study in this special Higgs issue of ILC NewsLine.

Feature

The Higgs is Different

Theoretical physicist and ILCSC chair Jonathan Bagger explains how

by Jonathan Bagger

The Higgs is Different, says Jonathan Bagger, a theoretical physicist and chair of the International Linear Collider Steering Committee ILCSC. It has no spin, it fills the vacuum, but most importantly, it opens the door to a new range of questions. Questions which a linear collider with its clean and controlled collisions could help answer.

Research Director's Report

Encouraging news from CERN

by Sakue Yamada

We in the ILC Research Directorate are thrilled with the announcement from CERN this week that a Higgs-like particle has been discovered. The Higgs particle has been a target of our experiments for over decades, and the affirming news from LHC finally means a great step forward. I wish to congratulate CERN and all physicists who contributed to this success.

Director's Corner

The Higgs and the ILC

by Barry Barish

The announcements of the most recent results from the search for the Higgs boson at the LHC bring into sharper focus the new physics at the energy frontier and the potential role of the ILC. Although it is still too soon to know what will be uncovered regarding the Higgs mechanism from studies at the LHC, it is worth pointing out the long-range potential for Higgs physics at the ILC. Two examples illustrate how the ILC will be able to shed further light on the phenomena seen at the LHC.

Feature

Make no assumptions

A linear collider would complete the picture

by Barbara Warmbein

The LHC experiments are definitely homing in on a Higgs boson in a mass region somewhere around 126 GeV. Further studies and more data from the LHC will tell us more about what it is that they have found, but only a linear collider will be able to tell without prejudice whether it’s a Standard Model Higgs (or not) and determine its mass with a precision down to about 60 MeV. Here’s how.

Feature

#Higgs on the web

This is a small collection of interesting links to background information, facts, figures and international sites all about the Higgs. It makes no attempt to be comprehensive, but readers are encouraged to use the commenting function to add their favourite sites.

And from our own ILC NewsLine:

Video of the week

Singalong tutorial

Video: CERN

After all of this week's news, press releases, blog posts, backgrounders and newspaper stories here's more about the Higgs - catchy, rhythmic and full of clever lyrics. If you think you've still not grasped the Higgs mechanism this song will stick in your head! It's "The Particle Physicists' Song" (based on "The Hippopotamus Song" by Michael Flanders and Donald Swann), with lyrics by Danuta Orlowska, performed by the CERN choir in the CERN Control Room in 2010. Enjoy and pass the tune on to your colleagues...

Image of the week

A small part of the team that made it all happen

Image: CERN

Surrounded by cameras and showing a variety of emotions – delighted, touched, excited, shy, proud, almost overwhelmed – the central theorists, CERN management and the spokespeople of the experiments get together for a group picture after yesterday's press conference. Front row, left to right: theorist Francois Englert, theorist Peter Higgs, ATLAS spokeswoman Fabiola Gianotti, CERN director Steve Myers. Back row, left to right: CERN director Sergio Bertolucci, CERN DG Rolf Heuer, CMS spokesman Joe Incandela, theorist Carl Hagen, theorist Gerald Guralnik. Missing in the picture: Robert Brout and Tom Kibble and the rest of the ATLAS and CMS collaborations.

In the News

  • from NHK news
    5 July 2012

    ヒッグス粒子とみられる素粒子の発見を受けて、東北大学は、ヒッグス粒子を研究する世界最先端の実験施設を岩手県に誘致するため、立地に必要な条件の調査などを行う協議会を設置することになりました。(Following the breaking news of the discovery of the new particle, the Tohoku University announced the establishment of the association that will work toward inviting a new particle physics laboratory to Iwate prefecture.)

  • from Iwate Nippo
    5 July 2012

    宇宙誕生の謎を解き明かす「ヒッグス粒子」の存在がほぼ確認された4日、同粒子の詳細研究に欠かせない国際リニアコライダー(ILC)の誘致活動を進める県や研究者からは喜びの声が上がった。早ければ2015年ごろとされるILCの建設地決定に向け、関係者は期待を膨らませている。(Scientists and local officials of Iwate prefecture were exicited to here the news of the discovery of the new particle consistent to Higgs particle. Iwate prefecture is woking on the activities toward invitation of the ILC, the machine which examine Higgs particle. google translation)

  • from {Science2}, blog de Libération
    4 July 2012

    Pour la suite, nous avons plusieurs idées. Construire une «usine à bosons de Higgs», les produisant en grand nombre et de manière plus propre, avec un collisionneur linéaire électrons contre électrons.(google translation)

  • from Spiegel
    4 July 2012

    Die Planungen für die Mega-Maschine laufen bereits. Ein Projekt ist der International Linear Collider. (google translation)

  • from CERN: Higgs a portata di mano
    4 July 2012

    Nel futuro sarà necessario anche aumentare l’energia in gioco e spingersi oltre i valori attuali: CLIC (Compact Linear Collider) e ILC (International Linear Collider) sono due delle possibili evoluzioni di LHC che la ricerca già preme per vedere realizzati. (google translation)

  • from AmericaRU
    4 July 2012

    В настоящее время существуют два крупных пост-БАКовских проекта. Это Международный электрон-позитронный линейный коллайдер (ILC, International Linear Collider), в создании которого уже сейчас участвуют почти 300 лабораторий и университетов по всему миру. ILC должен будет детально исследовать свойства бозона Хиггса, если последний будет открыт с помощью БАКа. (google translation)

  • from Texas Tech Today
    4 July 2012

    … “If this turns out to be a real Higgs, there must be other accelerators, or perhaps an international linear collider to be built to study this particle in detail as we always imagined it would be done. …

  • from Scientific American Blog
    4 July 2012

    Gross said a linear collider of electrons and positrons would make it easier to test the properties of the particle, “but that is not likely for 10 to 20 years. Maybe this result gives motivation for building one.” Regardless, “experimentalists, as they have proved today, are extremely clever,” teasing out small signals with the instruments they have.

  • from Europa Press
    28 June 2012

    El ILC será un acelerador lineal electrón-positrón de 35 Km de longitud, que pretende resolver muchos de los misterios de la estructura elemental de la materia. Superará en precisión al que es en la actualidad el acelerador más grande y energético del mundo, el Large Hadron Collider (LHC), lo que permitirá responder a importantes cuestiones acerca del comportamiento del Universo. (google translation)

  • from RIA Novosti
    21 June 2012

    Российские физики полагают, что линейный коллайдер может быть построен в подмосковной Дубне, где находится крупнейший в РФ центр физики высоких энергий. В свою очередь, Япония рассчитывает разместить туннель коллайдера в горной области на острове Кюсю на юго-западе страны или в горах Китаками на севере страны, и уже готовит геологические исследования. (google translation)