Giant machine finds the first glimpses of elusive ‘God Particle’

Latest results from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) show “strong hints” of the subatomic particle which is believed to explain the mystery of mass.

In theory the particles that make up the universe should all whiz around like light or electrons instead of creating solid matter. Dubbed the “God Particle” because of its importance, the Higgs boson is the last missing piece in a theory known as the Standard Model that explains how the particles and forces instead interact to make the world we see.

Scientists have been looking for it by smashing together particles at enormous energies in the LHC.

The £4bn particle accelerator, which weighs more than 38,000 tonnes and straddles the Swiss-French border, fills a 27km circular tunnel underground.

Four huge detectors have been constructed along the tunnel to take “snapshots” of what happens during the proton collisions.

Excitement mounted yesterday as scientists prepared to release new data from two detectors, Atlas and CMS, which are conducting independent searches for the Higgs boson.

Their findings add up to a “tantalising” indication the Higgs is out there – while still falling short of the statistical proof necessary.

Professor Tony Doyle, one of the LHC physicists from the University of Glasgow, who is part of the Atlas team, said: “My perspective is that this is our Apollo 10 moment. We’ve shown we’ve done everything needed to land on the Moon, or in our case, find the Higgs boson. I absolutely think we’ll find the Higgs boson next year.”

The scientists now know if the Higgs exists it will lie somewhere within a narrow energy band of between around 115 and 130 GeV (gigaelectronvolts).

Unfortunately, this may also cause problems for the Standard Model because it is unusually low, leading to speculation that theoretical physicists will still have to go back to the drawing board to explain why.