Edinburgh scientists join hunt for the Higgs Boson

A team of University of Edinburgh scientists will go to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland to work directly in the search for the elusive Higgs boson particle.

The team will work on the Atlas detector, one of four experiments analysing collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), as it aims to recreate the conditions of the Big Bang. Edinburgh researchers are already involved in another project at CERN which is not directly involved in the search for the sub-atomic particle.

Dr Philip Clark, one of the scientists from the university's School of Physics and Astronomy going to CERN, said: "This project represents the pinnacle of the UK’s ongoing research in particle physics, and is likely to dominate the field for the next 15 years. Our work could contribute to a paradigm shift in our understanding of the physical universe."

The Higgs boson particle was first predicted by Professor Peter Higgs, now professor emeritus at the University of Edinburgh, while he was working there in the 1960s. He is widely believed to be tipped for a Nobel Prize in Physics if the team at CERN is able to prove him correct.

Much controversy surrounds the LHC and the Higgs boson particle itself. There are fears among the public that it could bring about doomsday phenomena. This is refuted by the scientific community: the American Physical Society expressly endorses CERN's conclusion, after safety reviews, that the experiments present no danger and there is "no basis for any conceivable threat".

More recently, two reputable physicists have claimed that the Higgs boson may be travelling back in time to prevent its own creation because it would have such harmful effects.

Many other leading physicists reject this theory: MIT particle physicist Steven Nahn explained to PhysOrg.com: "The premise is fairly crazy, but many things in physics are constructed that way…

"The difference here is that these previous 'crazy' ideas gave consequences that were clearly testable and attestable to the new nature of the theory, in an objective manner, and involved the behavior of inanimate objects."

The LHC has been beset by several accidents which have delayed the start of work at the facility. An electrical fault shortly after the unveiling in September 2008 caused a leak of six tons of liquid helium; repairs following the fault have been further delayed, and experiments are set to recommence in November.