A Quantum Diaries Survivor

ATLAS has just released a note which summarizes the searches for the standard model Higgs boson in 7-TeV and 8-TeV data. Since July 4th the main improvement is the addition of the WW channel, which had not been shown back then. With it, the combined local significance of the 126 GeV Higgs boson excess in the WW, ZZ, and γγ channels grows to 5.9 standard deviations. In the words of a Facebook friend who's in ATLAS: "if this is not a discovery, I don't know what is".

The Tevatron experiments have jointly published on the arxiv two days ago a paper which is titled "Evidence for a particle produced in association with weak bosons and decaying to a bottom-antibottom quark pair in the search for the Higgs boson at the Tevatron collider". You can get the paper in the arxiv.

The communication of science to the general public is a subject dear to me, but unfortunately one that the majority of my colleagues neglect to consider as one to which to devote time and efforts. In the last decade blogs have started to fill the huge gap that exists between scientific journals and general news media, a gap that no popularization magazine can bridge, given their restricted scope. More recently, I see efforts that employ video and graphics more heavily than before, and this is of course a step in the right direction - reading is harder, or at least less immediate, than watching an image or following a video clip.

The following text has been offered as a followup of the Higgs observation by the LHC experiments, which finds a signal at a mass compatible with the pre-discovery predictions made some time ago by Vladimir Khachatryan - ones which I published in this blog. - T.D.Considerations following the Higgs boson discovery - Ashay Dharwadker

As I explained yesterday, I am in the process of receiving payment for a few bets on possible discoveries at the LHC. Two such bets were on between me and Tony Smith, a long time reader of this blog and a lawyer with deep interest in particle physics (and a few interesting ideas). Tony now concedes them. These are for a total of $200 and a bottle of Strega (an italian liquor); the latter has been agreed to be turned into a bottle of good wine, much closer to my taste. I will post here a picture of the wine as I get it; in the meantime, Tony agreed to write something to describe the heart of the matter to readers of this blog. So the text below is from him.LEARNING FROM LOSING 

Sense About Science, the British charitable trust that tries to educate the community on the correct handling of scientific claims, and to "work in partnership with scientific bodies, research publishers, policy makers, the public and the media, to change public discussions about science and evidence", has produced today a very interesting booklet on peer review.

The path of the LHC experiments to the successful observation of a Higgs boson has not been the smoothest I could think of, with delays in construction, incidents, and the like; but we are finally there. And now, with over 10/fb of data fully analyzed and presented at ICHEP, we can take stock and draw the "summer 2012" picture on existing and non-existing subnuclear entities, the non-existing ones notably including SUSY particles and other new physics candidates which are periodically evoked by theorists to mend the shortcomings of the standard model.

Okay, so after the wondeful announcement of two days ago, we have the rest of our life to take stock. But we need not wait until we get old, so let me begin today by listing some "ex post" thoughts related to the Higgs hunt and discovery. I imagine I will have more thoughts as this thing cools off, but here is something to start with.

Yesterday the Italian newspaper "Il Manifesto" featured two pieces written by yours truly on the discovery of the Higgs boson. I was delighted to have a chance to write for that newspaper, which has an illustrious history and is totally independent (and on the verge of being shut down). By the way, I must thank Peter Woit who suggested the reporters of the newspaper to contact me for the piece.The articles are in Italian, but I can make an effort at translating them for you here.

Rolf is drawing the conclusions. He just asked the audience:"I think we have it. Do you agree ?" And a roar of consensus fills the auditorium.The slide says "The observation of a new particle consistent with a Higgs boson".It is a historic milestone, but only the beginning.A standing ovation follows. Then a connection with Melbourne, with the other auditorium applauding. Now questions in the CERN site ensuing.Theorists take the stage, Higgs saying it is an extraordinary achievement for the lab, and that he is glad that it happened in his lifetime.A very moving finale !

[ The previous entries of this live blogging series are available here (part 1) , here (part 2) , here (part 3) ,  here (part 4), and

[ The first three entries of this live blogging series are available here (part 1) and here (part 2) and here (part 3) and here (part 4) and