School physics teaches us that everything is
made up of atoms, and inside atoms are electrons, protons and neutrons. They,
in turn, are made of quarks and other subatomic particles. Scientists have long
puzzled over how these minute building blocks of the universe acquire mass.
Without mass, particles wouldn't hold together and there would be no matter.
nd this is what they exactly finding at CERN !!!!!
What is the Standard Model ?
- The
standard model is a theory of Particle Physics.
- It
says all the material around us is made up of 12 matter particle (also
known as Fermions).
- The
other 11 particles predicted by the model have been found and only Higgs
particle was not yet found, so the CERN was trying to find it.
- (NOTE
-- The
Standard Model includes the electromagnetic, strong and weak forces and
all their carrier particles, and explains well how these forces act on all
of the matter particles. However, the most familiar force in our everyday
lives, gravity, is not part of the Standard Model, as fitting gravity comfortably into this
framework has proved to be a difficult challenge.)
What is the Higgs Boson ?
- This
particle is theoretically responsible for mass, without which there would
be no gravity and no universe.
- Therefore
it is also called the “God” particle.
- The
Higgs particle was proposed in the 1960s by British physicist Peter Higgs
as a way of explaining why other particles have mass.
- CERN
has been attempting to find evidence of its existence.
What is the Big Bang ?
- The
Big Bang occurred approximately 13.75 billion years ago, and it is
responsible for the creation of the Universe.
- But
after the Big Bang, the universe was a gigantic soup of particles racing
around at the speed of light without any mass to speak of.
- It
was through their interaction with the Higgs field that they gained mass
and eventually formed the universe.
- Thus
finding the Higgs particle can throw more light on how universe was
formed.
What is CERN ?
- The
European Organization for Nuclear Research also known as CERN
- It
is the world’s largest nuclear physics laboratory carrying out various
experiments,
- It
is situated at Geneva, along France-Swiss border.
- It
has been operating several particle accelerators the latest one being the
Large Hadron collider.
- (CERN . It is also the birthplace of the World
Wide Web )
- India
has a observor status in CERN
- The United
Nations General
Assembly recently granted 'Observer
status'
to CERN in UN.
- The latest of its pioneering effort
to make the entire field of high-energy physics open access through the
Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics
(SCOAP3) initiative.
What is the LHC (Large Hadron
Collider ) ?
- It
is the world’s biggest and most powerful particle accelerator.
- The LHC consists of a 27-kilometre
ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures
to boost the energy of the particles along the way.
- Two
beams of protons are fired in opposite directions around it before
smashing into each other to create many millions of particle collisions
every second in a recreation of the conditions a fraction of a second
after the Big Bang, when the Higgs field is believed to have ‘switched on’
and did the magic.
- They are guided around the accelerator
ring by a strong magnetic field maintained by superconducting
electromagnets.
The electromagnets are built from coils of special electric cable that
operates in a superconducting state, efficiently conducting electricity
without resistance or loss of energy. This requires chilling the magnets
to ‑271.3°C – a temperature colder than outer
space.
For this reason, much of the accelerator is connected to a distribution
system of liquid helium, which cools the magnets, as well as to other
supply services.
What is SuperSymmetry ?
- Its basically a hypothetical theory.
- Supersymmetry predicts a partner particle for each
particle in the Standard Model, to help explain why particles have mass
- Supersymmetry would also link the two
different classes of particles known as fermions and bosons.
- Particles like those in the Standard Model
are classified as fermions or bosons based on a property known as spin.
- Fermions all have half of a unit of spin,
while the bosons have 0, 1 or 2 units of spin.
- Supersymmetry predicts that each of the
particles in the Standard Model has a partner with a spin that differs by
half of a unit.
- So bosons are accompanied by fermions and
vice versa. Linked to their differences in spin are differences in their
collective properties. Fermions are very standoffish; every one must be in
a different state. On the other hand, bosons are very clannish; they
prefer to be in the same state. Fermions and bosons seem as different as
could be, yet supersymmetry brings the two types together.
Supersymmetry is a framework
that builds upon the Standard Model’s strong foundation to create a more
comprehensive picture of our world. ...LHC is working on this !
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ANTIMATTER !!!
- The big bang should have created
equal amounts of matter and antimatter in the early universe.
- Comparatively, there is not much
antimatter to be found. Something must have happened to tip the balance.
One of the greatest challenges in physics is to figure out what happened
to the antimatter, or why we see an asymmetry between matter and
antimatter.
- Antimatter particles share the same mass
as their matter counterparts, but qualities such as electric charge are
opposite.
- The positively charged positron, for
example, is the antiparticle to the negatively charged electron.
- Matter and antimatter particles are always
produced as a pair and, if they come in contact, annihilate one another,
leaving behind pure energy.
- During the first fractions of a second of
the big bang, the hot and dense universe was buzzing with
particle-antiparticle pairs popping in and out of existence.
- If matter and antimatter are created
and destroyed together, it seems the universe should contain nothing but
leftover energy.
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Tit bits
- Dark energy makes up approximately 70% of
the universe and appears to be associated with the vacuum in space.
- Unlike normal matter, dark matter does not
interact with the electromagnetic force. This means it does not absorb,
reflect or emit light, making it extremely hard to spot.
- Dark matter seems to outweigh visible
matter roughly six to one, making up about 26% of all the matter in the
universe.
- The matter we know and that makes up
all stars and galaxies only accounts for 4% of the content of the
universe! But what is dark matter? One idea is that it could contain "supersymmetric
particles" – hypothesized
particles that are partners to those already known in the Standard
Model. Experiments at the Large
Hadron Collider (LHC) may
provide more direct clues about dark matter.
|
What are QUARKS ?
· Quarks are the elementary
constituents from which Hadrons (baryons and mesons)
are made.
·
There are three main types (or flavors) of
quark known as Up, Down and Strange.
·
Each type of quark has different properties of mass,
charge, baryon number and strangeness .
·
Any particle containing quarks is termed a Hadron,
however quarks do not ever exist on their own but bound into quark-antiquark
pairs or triplets by the strong force.
This is known as quark confinement.
The
truth quark on its own has a K.E. 23 times that of a proton
at comparable speeds.
|
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ADDITIONAL READING !!!!!!
Who was Satyendranath Bose ...nd what is his
relation with this Higgs Boson ?
Satyendranath Bose was born on January 1,
1894 in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His father Surendranath Bose was employed in
the Engineering Department of the East India Railway.
As a student of the Hindu High School, Bose once was awarded 110 marks out of 100 in mathematics
because he had solved some problems in the exam paper by more than one method. He made a name for himself in school due to his love for
science.Later he attended the Presidency College also in Calcutta, where
another noted scientist Meghnad Saha was his fellow student. Bose came in contact with teachers like Jagdish Chandra Bose
and Prafulla Chandra Ray, who provided inspiration to aim high in life.
In 1924, while working as Reader in the
Physics Department of University of Dacca, Bose wrote a paper on novel way of counting
states with identical particles. This paper was seminal
in creating the very important field of quantum statistics. His paper was not
accepted for publication at once.
Not losing heart, Satyendranath
Bose sent the article directly to Albert Einstein in Germany with
a request to help it get published in the leading German language science
journal Zeitschrift fur Physik. In his covering letter to Einstein, Bose wrote
“though a complete stranger to you, I do not feel any hesitation in making such
a request. Because we are all your pupils though profiting only by your
teachings through your writings.”
Einstein, recognizing the importance of the
paper, translated it into German and submitted it for publication on Bose’s
behalf. The publication changed the life of Satyendra Nath Bose. The Dacca
University now opened its eyes and agreed to fund his tour to Europe, even
though he had only possessed a Master’s degree and no further qualifications.
Bose first visited Paris in 1924, where he stayed for a year. He conducted
research in the Madame Curie Laboratory, which had special facilities. The next
year, he left Paris for Berlin to join Einstein and work with him. There he
came into close contact with noted scientists like Schroedinger and Heisenberg.
He participated in all the meetings and discussions held there.
While Bose was in Berlin, the post of a
Professor fell vacant in Dacca University. Bose’s friends persuaded him to
apply but he was hesitant, as he had not got his doctorate yet. A
recommendation by Einstein could have fixed the matter. With great hesitation,
Bose approached Einstein for help. Einstein was surprised. He said “you are so
proficient in your subject. Is their need for any other certificate?” He
wrote a letter to the authorities in the Dacca University, which had a desired
effect. In 1926, Satyendranath Bose was appointed Professor and Head of the
Department of Physics.
Bose served in Dacca University for nearly 25
years. As a teacher he was admired by his students who held him in high esteem.
In 1944, when he was the Head of the Science Section in Dacca University, Bose
was chosen as the General President of the 31st session of the Indian
Science Congress.
Bose, who worked with Albert Einstein to bring out
the Bose-Einstein statistics and the theory of Bose-Einstein
Condensate in the
1920s, was a natural candidate for a Nobel Prize which he never got.
Yet, at least ten scientists have been awarded the
Nobel for their research in the field of particle physics based on concepts
like the Bose-Einstein Condensate or the Boson.
'Indians are incapable of achieving anything
great in science. At best, they are experts in subjects like philosophy “ was
the view most held in the West during those years. Satyendranath Bose dispelled
that impression and did yeoman service in the fields of science, with some
pioneering contributions in the fields of quantum physics.
Satyendranath Bose was a self-taught scholar
who had a wide range of interests in varied fields including physics,
mathematics, chemistry, biology, mineralogy, arts, literature and music.
Back home, Gurudev
Rabindranath Tagore dedicated his
only book on science – Vishwa
Parichay to him. The
Government of India conferred the Padma Vibhushan award on Satyendranath Bose
in 1954. At the age of 80, Bose suffered an unexpected and a severe heart
attack and breathed his last on the 4th of February 1974.
The CERN experiment has once again brought
focus on Satyendranath Bose. For India God Particle is as much Boson as Higgs.