Scientists have spotted the first evidence of a rare Higgs boson decay, expanding our understanding of the strange quantum universe.
In 2012, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to a breakthrough finding: the detection of the Higgs boson, a subatomic particle predicted by the Standard Model of physics nearly 50 years prior. The Higgs boson doesn't live very long, quickly decaying into less massive particles like two photons (light particles).
Now, researchers using ATLAS and CMS at CERN's Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland have found evidence for a rare Higgs boson decay in which the subatomic particle decays into one photon and two leptons, a type of elementary particle that can be charged or neutral. (Electrons and muons, a similar type of subatomic particle, are two examples of charged leptons.) Specifically, they found evidence that the Higgs boson can decay into either a photon and a pair of electrons, or a photon and a pair of muons with opposite charge.
www.space.com
In 2012, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to a breakthrough finding: the detection of the Higgs boson, a subatomic particle predicted by the Standard Model of physics nearly 50 years prior. The Higgs boson doesn't live very long, quickly decaying into less massive particles like two photons (light particles).
Now, researchers using ATLAS and CMS at CERN's Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland have found evidence for a rare Higgs boson decay in which the subatomic particle decays into one photon and two leptons, a type of elementary particle that can be charged or neutral. (Electrons and muons, a similar type of subatomic particle, are two examples of charged leptons.) Specifically, they found evidence that the Higgs boson can decay into either a photon and a pair of electrons, or a photon and a pair of muons with opposite charge.
Scientists find first evidence of rare Higgs boson decay
This work provides evidence for something scientists predicted long ago.
