One of the biggest open questions in particle physics today is how the Higgs boson interacts with itself. This “self-coupling” plays a pivotal role in determining the shape of the energy potential of the Higgs field, influencing both the early Universe evolution and the mechanism that gives mass to elementary particles. Physicists at the ATLAS … Read more
The onset of high-energy operation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in 2010 heralded a new and transformative era in physics research. A powerful and versatile hadron collider paired with sophisticated particle detectors and worldwide grid computing, all performing beyond expectations, allowed the LHC experiments to chart new frontiers and advance particle physics. … Read more
Despite its wide-ranging success, the Standard Model leaves some of the universe’s deepest mysteries unanswered. What is dark matter? Why does matter dominate over antimatter? Given how no beyond-the-Standard-Model phenomena have yet been observed at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a question naturally arises: are physicists searching in the right place? Figure 1: The expected … Read more
Physicists with the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider have announced the first observation of VVZ production — a rare combination of three massive vector bosons. A three-vector-boson event recorded by ATLAS, with one W boson decaying to an electron and a neutrino, one W boson decaying to a muon and a neutrino, and … Read more
Archyde A Perhaps Hazardous Visitor: Asteroid YR4 Table of Contents 1. A Perhaps Hazardous Visitor: Asteroid YR4 2. The Size and Shape of YR4 3. The 1% Probability: cause for concern? 4. What are the potential consequences of an asteroid impact of YR4’s size? 5. An Asteroid Visitor? Asteroid YR4 and the Reality of Potential … Read more