Maximilienrice,CRN

TheHigghapedelephant
intheroom

0 6 / 2 3 / 1 6 | arahCharle

Higgoonhouldma-produceottom
quark.owhiitohardtoeeithappening?

Higgoonareorninaloofpureconcentratedenergand
liveonlone-eptillionthofaecondeforedecaingintoacacade
ofotherparticle.In2012,theeuatomicoffpringweretheketo
thedicoveroftheHiggoon.
o-calleddaughterparticletickaroundlongenoughtohowupin
theCMandATLAdetectorattheLargeHadronCollider.
cientitcanfollowtheirtrackandtracethefamiltreeackto
theHiggoonthecamefrom.
uttheparticlethatledtotheHiggdicoverwereactuallome
oftheoonlecommonprogen.Afterrecordingeveralmillion
colliion,cientitidentifiedahandfulofZoonandphoton
withaHigg-likeorigin.ThetandardModelofparticlephic

predictthatHiggoonproducethoeparticle2.5and0.2
percentofthetime.PhicitlateridentifiedHiggoon
decaingintoWoon,whichhappenaout21percentofthe
time.
AccordingtothetandardModel,themotcommondecaofthe
Higgoonhouldeatranformationintoapairofottomquark.
Thihouldhappenaout60percentofthetime.
Thetrangethingi,cientithaveettodicoverithappening
(thoughthehaveeenevidence
(http://journal.ap.org/prl/atract/10.1103/PhRevLett.109.071804)).
AccordingtoHarvardreearcherJohnHuth,amemeroftheATLA
experiment,eeingtheHiggturningintoottomquarkipriorit
No.1forHiggoonreearch.
ItwouldehooveutofindtheHiggdecaingtoottomquark
ecauethiithelargetinteraction,Hutha,anditdarnwell
etterethere.
IftheHiggtoottomquarkdecawerenotthere,cientitwould
eleftcompleteldumfounded.

Iwouldehockedifthiparticledoenotcoupletoottom
quark,aJimOlen,aPrincetonreearcherandPhic
CoordinatorfortheCMexperiment.Theaenceofthideca
wouldhaveaverlargeanddirectimpactontherelativedecarate
oftheHiggoontoalloftheotherknownparticle,andtherecent
ATLAandCMcominedmeaurementareinexcellent
agreementwithexpectation.
Toefair,thedecaofaHiggtotwoottomquarkidifficultto
pot.
WhenadingHiggoonproducetwinZorWoon,theeach
decaintoapairofmuonorelectron.Theeparticleleavecrtal
clearignalinthedetector,makingiteaforcientittopot
themandtracktheirlineage.Andecauephotonareeentiall
immortaleamoflight,cientitcanimmediatelpotthemand
recordtheirtrajectorandenergwithelectromagneticdetector.
utwhenaHiggirthapairofottomquark,theimpulivel
marrotherquark,generatinghugeuntalefamiliewhich
ourgeon,reakandreform.Thichaoticcacadeleaveame
ancetr.

cientitaredevelopingpecialtooltodientangletheHiggfrom
thimulti-generationaluatomicoapopera.Unfortunatel,there
arenocheekwaorMaurPovichtoannounce,Higg,ouarethe
father!Intead,cientitareworkingonalgorithmthatlookfor
patternintheenergtheejetofparticledepoitinthe
detector.
ThedecaofHiggoontoottomquarkhouldhavedifferent
kinematicfromthemorecommonproceeandleaveunique
ignatureinourdetector,Hutha.utweneedtodeepl
undertandallthevarialeinvolvedifwewanttoqueezethemall
numerofHiggeventfromeverthingele.
PhicitUhaMallikandherATLAteamofreearcheratthe
UniveritofIowahaveeenmappingthecomplexottomquark
genealogieincehortlaftertheHiggdicoverin2012.
ottomquarkproducejetofparticlewithallkindandcolorand
flavor,Mallika.Therearefatjet,narrowget,ditinctjetand
overlappingjet.Juttofindtheoriginalottomquark,weneedto
lookatallofthejetcharacteritic.Thiiacomplexprolemwith
alotofpeopleworkingonit.

ThieartheLHCwillproducefivetimemoredatathanitdidlat
earandwillgenerateHiggoon25percentfater.cientit
expectthatAugutthewillealetoidentifthiprominent
decaoftheHiggandfindoutwhatitcantellthemaoutthe
propertieofthiuniqueparticle.

popularonmmetr

(/article/preparing-for-their-magnetic-moment)

(/article/all-four-one-and-one-for-all)

06/28/16

06/21/16

Preparingfortheirmagneticmoment

Allfouroneandoneforall(/article/all-four-one-and-

(/article/preparing-for-their-magnetic-moment)
cientitareuingaplaticrootandhair-thinpieceof
metaltoreadamagnetthatwillhuntfornewphic.

one-for-all)
Atheorofeverthingwouldunitethefourforceofnature,
utiuchathingpoile?

(/article/april-2015/ten-thing-ou-might-notknow-aout-antimatter)

(/article/lhc-dicover-famil-of-tetraquark)

04/28/15

Tenthingoumightnotknowaoutantimatter
(/article/april-2015/ten-thing-ou-might-not-knowaout-antimatter)
Antimatterhafueledmanaupernaturaltale.It'alo
facinatingallitelf.

06/29/16

LHCdicoverfamiloftetraquark(/article/lhcdicover-famil-of-tetraquark)
Reearcherfoundfournewparticlemadeoftheamefour
uildinglock.

Copright2016mmetrMagazine
AjointFermila/LACpulication
TermofUe(/node/48371)

(/)