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Tried to make the title more precise. Dear spraff, if u don't like my changes please roll back or use the parts u like.
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Qmechanic ♦
Qmechanic ♦
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What if we *haven't* discoveredthe 126 GeV particle found at LHC that LOOKS like the Higgs is actually not the Higgs Boson?

I am suspicious of the Higgs announcement. Press mania aside, the scientists seem careful to say only that "we've found somehingsomething which looks like the Higgs Boson".

The difference between Higgs-containing theories and non-Higgs-containing theories is a tiny bump on the energy curve, smaller than the resolution of the detectors, which is why we have to perform statistical gymnastics on large data sets to discover or refute the deviation.

In other words, the energy distribution of the reactions is consistent with there being a short-lived particle weighing 126Gev126GeV, and that's all the announcements seem to really say.

Is there anything else in the results which tells us that the extra element is Higgs and not something else? Is there any identifying feature other than lifespan and mass?

What if we *haven't* discovered the Higgs Boson?

I am suspicious of the Higgs announcement. Press mania aside, the scientists seem careful to say only that "we've found somehing which looks like the Higgs Boson".

The difference between Higgs-containing theories and non-Higgs-containing theories is a tiny bump on the energy curve, smaller than the resolution of the detectors, which is why we have to perform statistical gymnastics on large data sets to discover or refute the deviation.

In other words, the energy distribution of the reactions is consistent with there being a short-lived particle weighing 126Gev, and that's all the announcements seem to really say.

Is there anything else in the results which tells us that the extra element is Higgs and not something else? Is there any identifying feature other than lifespan and mass?

What if the 126 GeV particle found at LHC that LOOKS like the Higgs is actually not the Higgs Boson?

I am suspicious of the Higgs announcement. Press mania aside, the scientists seem careful to say only that "we've found something which looks like the Higgs Boson".

The difference between Higgs-containing theories and non-Higgs-containing theories is a tiny bump on the energy curve, smaller than the resolution of the detectors, which is why we have to perform statistical gymnastics on large data sets to discover or refute the deviation.

In other words, the energy distribution of the reactions is consistent with there being a short-lived particle weighing 126GeV, and that's all the announcements seem to really say.

Is there anything else in the results which tells us that the extra element is Higgs and not something else? Is there any identifying feature other than lifespan and mass?

Tweeted twitter.com/#!/StackPhysics/status/222368364062978049
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spraff
spraff
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What if we *haven't* discovered the Higgs Boson?

I am suspicious of the Higgs announcement. Press mania aside, the scientists seem careful to say only that "we've found somehing which looks like the Higgs Boson".

The difference between Higgs-containing theories and non-Higgs-containing theories is a tiny bump on the energy curve, smaller than the resolution of the detectors, which is why we have to perform statistical gymnastics on large data sets to discover or refute the deviation.

In other words, the energy distribution of the reactions is consistent with there being a short-lived particle weighing 126Gev, and that's all the announcements seem to really say.

Is there anything else in the results which tells us that the extra element is Higgs and not something else? Is there any identifying feature other than lifespan and mass?