Editorial: 鈥�The Higgs is only half the problem鈥�
IS THE Higgs boson unbearably light? The latest rumour suggests its mass may be too low to fit the simplest form of the standard model of particle physics.
Though the Higgs is predicted by this model, the leading theory describing how particles and forces interact, and credited with giving all other particles mass, no one knows what the boson itself weighs. Previous results narrowed the possibilities to between 115 and 141 gigaelectronvolts (the proton鈥檚 mass is just under 1 GeV).
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Now, ahead of a meeting at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland, scheduled for 13 December, the physics blogosphere is buzzing with speculation that the Large Hadron Collider鈥檚 two main detectors will announce a signal corresponding to a 125 GeV Higgs.
鈥淭he physics blogosphere is buzzing with speculation that the LHC has seen a sign of a 125 GeV Higgs鈥�
Such a result won鈥檛 have the necessary statistics to count as a genuine find. But, at the lighter end of the possible mass range, a 125-GeV Higgs may be too light for the simplest form of the standard model. So it could be a hint that the standard model needs exotic extensions like supersymmetry, which postulates hundreds of new particles (see 鈥淪upersymmetry comes up against some ugly facts鈥�).
