7/31/2019 Toronto scientists in hot pursuit of the God particle _ The Toronto Observer

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Some of Torontos best minds in particle physics are hoping 2012 will be the year they achieve a big

bang of theirown, including a potential Nobel Prize in physics.

The physicists, from the University of Toronto and York University, have a shot at discovering one of

sciences Holy Grails, the Higgs boson also known as the God particle. They are part of the massive

international collaborationATLAS one of two research teams of about 3,000 scientists working at the

Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland.

The ATLAS group is racing against a second team called CMS. Both teams use the worlds largest

particle accelerator at CERN to smash protons together in the hope of identifying the Higgs boson

amongst the debris. In December, CERN announced preliminary results showing that both teams may be

hot on the trail of finding the elusive Higgs boson.

With the ATLAS and CMS teams being neck and neck and both having seen a hint of the Higgs boson,

the atmosphere at CERN has become more competitive.

If you go to CERN now, the place is abuzz with rumours. If you go to the cafeteria or you have a cup of

coffee and stop and ask somebody: What are you talking about? you likely get an answer like Not

anything I can tell you! There is intense competition, explained Professor Robert Orr from the University

of Toronto and senior contributor to the ATLAS experiment.

That competition, however, is partly by design.

One of the reasons of having multiple experiments is that of verifiability. Another is to produce healthy

competition, said professor Peter Krieger from the U of T, who is also contributing to ATLAS.

The Higgs boson would explain how objects obtain their masses and would complete our understanding

TORONTO News

Toronto scientists in hot pursuit of the God particle

By Nino Meese-Tamuri | Posted: Feb 7 2012 2:31 pm

PHOTO COURTESY OF ATLAS

Physicists from the University of Toronto and York University are part of an

international team working on the ATLAS detector, pictured, at the Large Hadron

Collider, in Switzerland.

http://www.torontoobserver.ca/edition/toronto/http://www.torontoobserver.ca/category/news/http://www.torontoobserver.ca/reporter-archive/?reporter=Nino%20Meese-Tamurihttp://www.torontoobserver.ca/category/news/http://www.torontoobserver.ca/edition/toronto/http://cms.web.cern.ch/http://public.web.cern.ch/public/http://www.atlas.ch/

7/31/2019 Toronto scientists in hot pursuit of the God particle _ The Toronto Observer

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of visible matter as described by the Standard Model theory. Proving the existence or non-existence of

the Higgs boson hinges on these two huge groups. With so many people involved in the potential

discovery of modern times, talk has inevitably shifted on who should get the Nobel Prize.

Frank Close, a British particle physicist at the University of Oxford, has a clear opinion on the matter:

I cant see how you would award a Nobel Prize for the actual experimental discovery of the Higgs boson

because almost every experimental physicist in the world at some time or the other has been involved at

some level, said Close, who has written a book on the issue called The Infinity Puzzle.

Instead, Close favours the idea of awarding the Nobel Prize to Peter Higgs, one of six theorists who

predicted the existence of the Higgs boson.

While the odds of the Toronto team sharing a Nobel Prize are slim, it would be considerable reputation

boost for the U of T and York.

The fact that we have participated in this shows that the [U of T] is right up there with other universities

like Yale, Harvard and MIT, said Orr.

About this article:

By: Nino Meese-Tamuri

Posted: Feb 7 2012 2:31 pm

Edition: Toronto

Filed in: News

Tagged: ATLAS, CERN, Frank Close, God particle, Higgs boson, Large Hadron Collider, Peter Krieger,

physics, university of toronto, York University

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