ATLAS and CMS experiments shed light on Higgs properties | Hacker News Reader

ATLAS and CMS experiments shed light on Higgs properties

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13 pointsTallGuyShort7 comments

TL;DR: The results obtained in Run 1 (which ended in 2013) from CMS and ATLAS have now been combined in a new joint analysis of the branching ratios of the most common Higgs boson decay products. The results show no deviations, even at the speculative level, from the predictions of the Standard Model. But uncertainties are being reduced significantly, so if there is a deviation from the SM, Run 2 data might find it.

For me, the biggest takeaway from this is how mind-bogglingly large amounts of data the LHC produces. The LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group is big enough that they're organized into 11 subgroups, and these guys are still crunching away at data produced more than two years ago. Run 2 will finish in 2017, so they will still be crunching that data in 2020, and the LHC will be running until at least 2030.

That's really cool and all, but...

https://xkcd.com/1489/

You do know that this comic is mocking how the fundamental forces are taught at the high-school level, not our understanding of them, right?

>> You do know that this comic is mocking how the fundamental forces are taught at the high-school level, not our understanding of them, right?

No, I didn't know that. Thanks. The Wikipedia page on the strong force is not very encouraging either though.

No, there is quite a lot of required material to even begin understanding quantum chromodynamics. I'm not sure you can understand it in anything but a silly way unless you're willing to do at least some complicated math. That's par for the course for a quantum field theory in a non-Abelian gauge. The problem is also compounded by the distinction between the residual strong force and the actual strong force.

https://xkcd.com/547/

Two of the forces are intuitive to grasp. Two aren't. And?

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