Another Nail in the Coffin for the Standard Model?

Summary: Data from the LHC's last run is still being analysed and with this comes possible new data to suggest faults in the standard model. Researchers at University of Maryland are studying leptons, subatomic particles that help to make up our universe. While studying the decay rate, they observed that not all particles decayed at the same rate as they should. Something was influencing the process.

What this mysterious force is, we do not know, but it is not predicted to exist in the standard model. This experiment is building on another experiment of their that also seemed to contradict the standard model. So it is not an instrumental error. Whatever it is, I am excited to find out.


RT
University of Maryland

LHC is Up and Running

Summary: After the scheduled two year shutdown and update of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the LHC is back and ready for even higher energy collisions. It began smashing particles again Easter Sunday at energies of 450 GeV. Amazingly enough, this is a lower energy and will be used for calibrations before the truly record breaking energies of 7,000 GeV starting on June 1st.


BBC News

Update: Test collisions have broken the energy record already at 13 TeV.

BBC News

Two New Particles

Summary: You read that correctly. Amid all the excitement about the comet landing, researchers at CERN have detected two new particles with the LHCb experiment. These particles were predicted to exist by the quark model but had never been observed. And now we are pleased to introduce yo to Xi_b' and Xi_b*. Super exciting names I know but maybe they will become fancier in the future.
Both of these particles contain one beauty quark, one strange quark, and one down quark. They are more than six times as massive as the proton. They have different spins (a weird quantum mechanical property that describes their angular momentum).

So this is super exciting, because finding more proof for your theories is always good. And now I am off to find out why I have never heard of a beauty quark before. UPDATE: Apparently it is another name for the bottom quark.


Symmetry Mag

Rare Decay Confirmed at LHC

I unfortunately do not have time to writing a summary right now and I wanted to give this to you guys before I forgot completely. Trust me that it is very interesting.


Also remember that the Persied meteor shower is August 7th-11th so keep your eyes to the sky. They originate in the North East but they are very bright so you should be able to see them across the sky.


BBC News

Curiosity and other updates

Summary: Curiosity has discovered that most of Mars's atmosphere has since departed into space. Scientists discovered this by looking at the chemical of argon. Argon reacts with very little so the only way the lighter isotopes will have given way to a majority of the heavier isotopes is by escaping into outer space. The article does not comment on what this means when trying to determine whether or not Mars ever had flowing water other than to say that scientists are still split.


BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22063337


Summary: The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) in the sky has made some observations that may give additional evidence to dark matter. Stay tuned.

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22016504


Summary: The LHC is being upgraded so that is can find new particles. Not too much info at this moment.


BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21941666

Another puzzle piece in the Standard Model

Summary: Scientists have now detected D-mesons (a very small and elusive particle) oscillating between matter and antimatter. Weird, but super cool. This was predicted to occur since the other mesons have already been proven to exhibit this weird behavior. Furthermore, this evidence crosses the "five-sigma" level of statistical certainty that is needed to declare it an actual discovery.



BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21594357

LHC Shut down

Summary: The LHC has begun its two year shut down for repairs. But don't panic! They still have plenty of data to sort through.



BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21421460
CERN Courier: http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/52361

Wishy-washy Higgs

Summary: The inconsistencies and weird things in the data that lead scientists to announce the discovery of a new particle back in July, curiously still remain. It seems to be a difference in measurement that makes the difference.

There have also been hints of other weird science occurring that frankly does not make much sense to me, but something about particles flattening and gaining gluons as they reach the speed of light, possibly being observed.

Either way, next week the LHC will shift into a new phase before being shut down for upgrading at the beginning of 2013. Not to worry though, they still have tons of data to analyze.


NewScientist
Higgs:http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23003-higgs-boson-having-an-identity-crisis.html
flat particles: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22556-lhc-sees-hint-of-highspeed-particle-pancake.html

Decay

Summary: Students and scientists at CERN have completed their zombie movie! After three long years of working on it you can watch it at the link below. The premise is that some engineers were down in the tunnels of the LHC when some radiation leaked and turned them into zombies. Now the remaining members must figure out what caused it before they are also dead meat.
To mock Hollywood's atrocious science, they too purposefully made ludicrous claims, only in this case, the actors (also students) kept trying to fix the errors and had to be reminded that it was wrong on purpose.
 I'll update this post after I watch it with a spoiler-free review.



Decay-trailer: http://youtu.be/luNueXoAw3I
Decay-full movie: http://youtu.be/n-NwLUPZWZc

Another blow struck at the Standard Model

Summary: The scientists at the LHCb have observed a Bs meson decay into three muons, a decay possibility that is extremely rare. This puts a hole in the Supersymmetry model which attempts to explain some if the inconsistencies in the standard model. As usual, this is not conclusive evidence, but it seems to indicate that our universe is more complicated than a standard model can predict.



BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20300100

LHC is back on air!

Summary:

The LHC has reopened with higher energies (4TeV per beam) and scientists look forward to 
renewing the search for the Higgs and continuing on to new physics. 

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17625123 

CERNTV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQfUFi9Gy3Y

Antimatter under a microscope?

Scientists at CERN are extremely close to being able to look at an atom of anti hydrogen under a microscope.

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17284822

New data from the Tev

After sifting through more data from the Tevatron, there are hints of a particle between 115 and 135 GeV with a certainty of 2.2 sigma. (Not enough to call it a discovery.) The LHC has found a suggestive "bump" as well at the same mass even though the experiments conducted to get the data were extremely different.

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17269647
Quantum Diaries: http://www.quantumdiaries.org/2012/03/07/the-higgs-boson-won%E2%80%99t-be-playing-hide-and-seek-much-longer/

Symmetry Magazine: http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2012/03/07/tevatron-experiments-see-possible-signs-of-the-higgs-boson-in-favored-region/

One in a Billion

LHCb, an experiment within the LHC, has further proven that the standard model is correct. (Much to my disappointment.) They have watched B mesons to determine how many decay in which manner. Their data lined up with what the standard model dictated so it seems as if the standard model is gaining validity.

Quantum Diaries: http://www.quantumdiaries.org/2012/03/05/lhcb-finds-a-few-very-special-events-out-of-10-billions/

New antimatter development

Data from the Tevatron has further solidified unexpected data from the LHC regarding how particles decay. It is not quite at four sigmas of certainty but it is enough to make scientists think about the implications.

BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17200308Fermilab

New Particle Discoved at CERN

Summary:

The new particle is a 'beauty' quark and 'beauty' anti-quark bound together. Strong nuclear force keeps them together.

BBC News:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16301908

LHC puts supersymmetry in doubt

BBC News story:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14680570

It turns out that supersymmetry may not actually be a valid theory, which opens the field for new ideas for younger theoretical physicists.