. | . |
Bump in LHC data is not a new particle, scientists announce by Stephen Feller Chicago (UPI) Aug 5, 2016
Physicists who thought they discovered a new particle, which would explain holes in theories of how the universe works, announced at a conference Friday that they were wrong. A "bump" seen last year in data from the Large Hadron Collider has turned out to be an aberration after physicists say it disappeared in further examination and experiments. In December, researchers involved with two experiments at the LHC, CMS and ATLAS, revealed detectors in their experiments had picked up excess pairs of photons in the debris of proton collision experiments. The excess energy, they said at the time, showed a new particle decaying into two photons of equivalent energy -- a particle six times more massive than the Higgs boson particle discovered in 2012. The results led to a bevy of theories, more than 500 papers in just a few months, according to Discover Magazine, though further experiments since the beginning of 2016 have suggested the variation in data was random chance as it has not been recreated. "There was a lot of excitement when we started to collect data," David Charlton, a researcher at Birmingham University and leader of the Atlas experiment at the LHC, told BBC News. "But in the [latest results] we see no sign of a bump, there's nothing. It is a pity because it would have been a really fantastic thing if there had been a new particle."
Related Links Understanding Time and Space
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |