The Cogitator

sciencecenter:

If the Higgs Boson exists, we’re running out of places to find it

After 18 months of study at the Large Hadron Collider, scientists have just about exhausted all of the various possible energies where the Higgs Boson - the “god particle” tying together the Standard Model of particle physics - could be found. Presenters at an August conference in Mumbai put the chances at 95% that the Higgs doesn’t exist. The silver lining exists for a) up-and-coming theoretical particle physicists, who are probably going to be in great demand, and b) Stephen Hawking, who boldly predicted that the Higgs will never be found.

I have heard the story told a bit differently by my friend who works with a group analyzing data for potential Higgs signatures.  According to him, the Higgs is thought to most likely exist within two particular energy ranges.  Scientists picked a range in the middle hoping to detect direct or indirect evidence of a Higgs signal.  So far nothing, but there is still a pretty viable energy range where we could see evidence for the Higgs.  Other sources I have heard have said it would take another couple of years of not finding the Higgs before we start looking at other possibilities.

On a side note, I am skeptical that theoretical physicists will ever be in “great demand,” much to my chagrin.