scholarly journals A category mistake in observational claims regarding ultrashort-lived unstable particles

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (38) ◽  
pp. 1850227
Author(s):  
Marcoen J. T. F. Cabbolet

The physics literature contains many claims that ultrashort-lived unstable particles, such as a Higgs boson, have been observed. These claims are a matter of applying the [Formula: see text]-convention in particle physics. This paper, however, shows that by applying this [Formula: see text]-convention a category mistake is made, by which a pure reasoning is passed off as an observation. Not only are these two fundamentally different primitive notions at the very basis of science, but the pure reasoning in question is also weaker than an observation: what we have in each case is that the existence of the ultrashort-lived unstable particle is inferred to the best explanation, but that does absolutely not merit the stronger claim that the particle in question has been “observed”. Consequently, the observational claims in question will thus have to be dismissed as overstatements. On a general note, this demonstrates that the empirical support for the Standard Model of particle physics is significantly less than hitherto thought.

Author(s):  
E. Comay

Dynamical sectors of the Standard Model of particle physics are critically analyzed. It is proved thatquantum electrodynamics, quantum chromodynamics, and the electroweak theory are inconsistentwith fundamental physical principles. More than two examples apply to each of these theories, andany of these examples substantiate the unacceptable status of the relevant theory. Unfortunately,the mainstream particle physics literature ignores this situation and glorifies the Standard Modelas an excellent scientific theory.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 110-142
Author(s):  
Abdeljalil Habjia

In the context of particle physics, within the ATLAS and CMS experiments at large hadron collider (LHC), this work presents the discussion of the discovery of a particle compatible with the Higgs boson by the combination of several decay channels, with a mass of the order of 125.5 GeV. With increased statistics, that is the full set of data collected by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at LHC ( s1/2 = 7GeV and s1/2 = 8GeV ), the particle is also discovered individually in the channel h-->γγ with an observed significance of 5.2σ and 4.7σ, respectively. The analysis dedicated to the measurement of the mass mh and signal strength μ which is defined as the ratio of σ(pp --> h) X Br(h-->X) normalized to its Standard Model where X = WW*; ZZ*; γγ ; gg; ff. The combined results in h-->γγ channel gave the measurements: mh = 125:36 ± 0:37Gev, (μ = 1:17 ± 0:3) and the constraint on the width Γ(h) of the Higgs decay of 4.07 MeV at 95%CL. The spin study rejects the hypothesis of spin 2 at 99 %CL. The odd parity (spin parity 0- state) is excluded at more than 98%CL. Within the theoretical and experimental uncertainties accessible at the time of the analysis, all results: channels showing the excess with respect to the background-only hypothesis, measured mass and signal strength, couplings, quantum numbers (JPC), production modes, total and differential cross-sections, are compatible with the Standard Model Higgs boson at 95%CL. Although the Standard Model is one of the theories that have experienced the greatest number of successes to date, it is imperfect. The inability of this model to describe certain phenomena seems to suggest that it is only an approximation of a more general theory. Models beyond the Standard Model, such as 2HDM, MSSM or NMSSM, can compensate some of its limitations and postulate the existence of additional Higgs bosons.


1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (31) ◽  
pp. 5531-5554 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Ellis

The present status of the Standard Model and its experimental tests are reviewed, including indications on the likely mass of the Higgs boson. Also discussed are the motivations for supersymmetry and grand unification, searches for sparticles at LEP, neutrino oscillations, and the prospects for physics at the LHC.


Author(s):  
Tara Shears

The Standard Model is the theory used to describe the interactions between fundamental particles and fundamental forces. It is remarkably successful at predicting the outcome of particle physics experiments. However, the theory has not yet been completely verified. In particular, one of the most vital constituents, the Higgs boson, has not yet been observed. This paper describes the Standard Model, the experimental tests of the theory that have led to its acceptance and its shortcomings.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-70
Author(s):  
Aleandro Nisati

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is the highest energy machine for particle physics research ever built. In the years 2010–2012 this accelerator has collided protons to a centre-mass-energy up to 8 TeV (note that 1 TeV corresponds to the energy of about 1000 protons at rest; the mass of one proton is about 1.67×10–24 g). The events delivered by the LHC have been collected and analysed by four apparatuses placed alongside this machine. The search for the Higgs boson predicted by the Standard Model and the search for new particles and fields beyond this theory represent the most important points of the scientific programme of the LHC. In July 2012, the international collaborations ATLAS and CMS, consisting of more than 3000 physicists, announced the discovery of a new neutral particle with a mass of about 125 GeV, whose physics properties are compatible, within present experimental and theoretical uncertainties, to the Higgs boson predicted by the Standard Model. This discovery represents a major milestone for particle physics, since it indicates that the hypothesized Higgs mechanism seems to be responsible for the masses of elementary particles, in particular W± and Z0 bosons, as well as fermions (leptons and quarks). The 2013 Physics Nobel Prize has been assigned to F. Englert and P. Higgs, ‘for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider’.


Author(s):  
G. Dissertori

Enormous efforts at accelerators and experiments all around the world have gone into the search for the long-sought Higgs boson, postulated almost five decades ago. This search has culminated in the discovery of a Higgs-like particle by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider in 2012. Instead of describing this widely celebrated discovery, in this article I will rather focus on earlier attempts to discover the Higgs boson, or to constrain the range of possible masses by interpreting precise data in the context of the Standard Model of particle physics. In particular, I will focus on the experimental efforts carried out during the last two decades, at the Large Electron Positron collider, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, and the Tevatron collider, Fermilab, near Chicago, IL, USA.


2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (07) ◽  
pp. 1330015
Author(s):  
◽  
DOMIZIA ORESTANO

This document presents a brief overview of some of the experimental techniques employed by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the search for the Higgs boson predicted by the standard model (SM) of particle physics. The data and the statistical analyses that allowed in July 2012, only few days before this presentation at the Marcel Grossman Meeting, to firmly establish the observation of a new particle are described. The additional studies needed to check the consistency between the newly discovered particle and the Higgs boson are also discussed.


2002 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 1457-1476 ◽  
Author(s):  
BERND A. KNIEHL

The Higgs boson is the missing link of the Standard Model of elementary particle physics. We review its decay properties and production mechanisms at a future e+e-linear collider and its e-e-, e±γ, and γγ modes, with special emphasis on the influence of quantum corrections. We also discuss how its quantum numbers and couplings can be extracted from the study of appropriate final states.


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