Category Archives: Particles

Book Review: “The Higgs Fake: How Particle Physicists Fooled the Nobel Committee”

I’m painfully aware of abundant serious problems in physics of the largest phenomena, meaning “Standard” Cosmology-astrophysics (Big Bang/LCDM). Those include definitional and procedural problems, along with fundamental substantive errors and logical flaws likely created and nurtured by serious cognitive biases. … Continue reading

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Posted in Basic Science, Book Review, Conjectures OverInterpreting Data, Education, Models, Particles, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Closing in on Higgs Boson Certainty, But “Standard Model Higgs” Remains Distant

A Higgs Boson? – Likely “The preliminary results with the full 2012 data set are magnificent and to me it is clear that we are dealing with a Higgs boson though we still have a long way to go to … Continue reading

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Why Don’t Three Quarks Add Up to One Proton? (and its not even close)

You’ve probably heard a thousand times that a Proton is made up of three Quarks: Two Up-Quarks and one Down-Quark. Right? So lets just take a quick look to see how they add up. OK – an Up Quark weighs … Continue reading

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“We don’t know if its a Higgs boson” – yet Theorists rush to claim new physics ground

“There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.” – Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi (1) Q: What’s the difference between a religious fanatic and an extreme … Continue reading

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Did CERN Find a Higgs ? Well not quite. But they probably found a New Particle ! and extended their funding for years

You might have seen the New York Times Headline on July 4th “Physicists Find Elusive Particle Seen as Key to Universe” “I think we have it” said Rolf-Dieter Heuer, the director general of CERN. While CERN’s spokespeople were reasonably tentative … Continue reading

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Will a Higgs Boson Discovery be Announced in July?

Today I ran across lots of excited rumors on Particle Physics websites that a Higgs boson might be announced at the upcoming International Conference on High Energy Physics in Australia. (The Higgs Boson is a never-observed particle that allegedly “give … Continue reading

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CERN’s Neutrinos – Now Obeying Speed Limit

Its official – no “Faster than Light” Neutrinos at CERN. CERN (not OPERA) Research Director Sergio Bertolucci announced yesterday at a Japanese conference that they have re-run the Neutrino experiments on four different machines and all neutrinos seem to be … Continue reading

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Electron No Longer a Fundamental Particle ?

Amazing news: Researchers in Switzerland have separated an Electron into two smaller quasi-particles – a “Spinon” and an “Orbiton;” meaning they have physically separated the spin and the orbit properties of an Electron. Until now, standard physics generally accepted that … Continue reading

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Must Faster-than Light Neutrinos Cause Cerenkov Radiation?

A recent criticism of the apparently Faster-than-light (FTL) Neutrinos inspiring a lot of discussion is the claim that if Neutrinos are going FTL – they must cause Cherenkov radiation. Why? That doesn’t make sense. And its never been observed so … Continue reading

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Not Sure about Uncertainty ;-)

I’m Not Sure about the Uncertainty Principle (c) Copyright 2011-2017 David Dilworth It is difficult to test the flavor of an apple without biting it or taking some sample out of it. You or I can test or measure its … Continue reading

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Faster than Light Concern – Detecting Only 1 Neutrino per Hour

Regarding the potentially Faster than light Neutrinos, it is vital to realize that only about one (1) Neutrino is detected by Italy’s OPERA every hour; that’s one Neutrino per hour. Compare that to how every square centimeter on Earth (facing … Continue reading

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How Are Neutrino Flavors Different ? Maybe There Is Only Vanilla . . .

Neutrinos are fundamental particles, more closely related to Electrons than Neutrons because they are not made up of smaller particles (Neutrons are made up of 3 Quarks). Here are some odd things about Neutrinos. 1. All three flavors (types) of … Continue reading

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Posted in Basic Science, Definitions, Particles | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Landmark: Neutrinos Seem to Break Light Speed Limit – Superluminal Motion Found in 2nd Experiment

  Update: Added Glossary and Links to: the original paper, video talk, OPERA website; and step by step explanation of experiment details. While working on another problem, a team of physics researchers at CERN and the Gran Sasso Laboratory in … Continue reading

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Elusive Dark Matter Idea Evaporating

NewScientist reports that “NASA’s FERMI satellite has confirmed a previous hint that there is more antimatter than expected coming from space. The bad news is that the result strongly almost certainly rules out Dark Matter as the source.”

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Posted in Basic Science, Big Bang Models, Dark, Dark Matter, Experiments, Models, News, Particles, UnObserved | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Higgs Boson – Imaginary Particle Remains Science Fiction – Big Bang Weakens Further

The voice you hear getting louder is Brünnhilde practicing Götterdämmerung. Thats because the search is all but over for “the most sought-after particle in modern physics” – the Higgs Boson. Update: In March 2013, while there are a few loose … Continue reading

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Inverse Femtobarns – Measuring Collider Effectiveness

Here’s a fun article on possible identification of a new particle. Update (July 2011): Unfortunately, this exciting potential evaporated under more rigorous scrutiny. But, that’s exactly the way science is supposed to work. We are supposed to abandon even our … Continue reading

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