Top heavier than Higgs. Why not found at Fermilab?

In summary, the role of the LHC in finding the Higgs conclusively was due to a combination of higher luminosity and higher energy, which resulted in much higher cross-sections for Higgs production. The top-quark also played a role, with its clear decay signature and large production cross-section. The energy at the LHC greatly increased the cross-section for both the top-quark and the Higgs, making it a critical factor in the search. Overall, the LHC's ability to provide higher luminosity, energy, and better detectors all contributed to finding conclusive evidence for the Higgs.
  • #1
nrqed
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The title says it all. The top is heavier than the Higgs boson. In that case, why was the LHC needed to find the Higgs conclusively? (a related question is: how strong was the evidence for the Higgs from the Tevatron?) Is the answer simply a question of higher luminosity at the LHC?? Or is the fact of working at higher energy at the LHC leads to much higher cross sections for Higgs production?


Thanks!
 
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  • #2
See that thread for an earlier discussion.

Top-quarks have a very clear decay signature and a large production cross-section.

how strong was the evidence for the Higgs from the Tevatron?
I think the last update had something like 2.5-3 standard deviations.

Is the answer simply a question of higher luminosity at the LHC?? Or is the fact of working at higher energy at the LHC leads to much higher cross sections for Higgs production?
Higher luminosity and higher energy are both important. And the detectors are better.
 
  • #3
mfb said:
See that thread for an earlier discussion.

Top-quarks have a very clear decay signature and a large production cross-section.


I think the last update had something like 2.5-3 standard deviations.


Higher luminosity and higher energy are both important. And the detectors are better.

Thank you for your reply and for your posts in the other thread. Very illuminating.

I see that the fact that much fewer clean channels in the Higgs case makes a higher luminosity critical. I would like to understand better the role of the energy. Having a higher center of mass energy increases the production rates, certainly. Are the production rates very sensitive to the energy? I mean, does going from 2 TeV to 7 TeV make a big difference in the number of events or is it a very small factor compared to the luminosity role?

Thank you for your expertise.

Patrick
 
  • #4
For the top-quark, the the higher energy at the LHC increased the cross-section (and therefore the particles per integrated luminosity) by a factor of 20-30.
Higgs: ~1pb at the tevatron, ~15pb at the LHC (7 TeV) according to this article.
Energy is really important for heavy particles.
 
  • #5
Let's use the other thread, please.
 

What is the significance of "Top heavier than Higgs"?

The "Top heavier than Higgs" statement refers to the top quark, which is the heaviest elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics, having a mass of 173 GeV. This is significantly heavier than the Higgs boson, which has a mass of 125 GeV.

Why is the top quark being heavier than the Higgs boson important?

This is significant because according to the Standard Model, the Higgs boson is responsible for giving particles their mass. However, the top quark is much heavier than the Higgs boson, which challenges our understanding of the mechanism by which particles acquire mass.

Why has the top quark not been found at Fermilab?

Fermilab is a national laboratory in the United States dedicated to particle physics research. While the top quark was discovered in 1995 at the Tevatron collider at Fermilab, it is not currently being studied there. This is because the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, which is a more powerful particle accelerator, is better suited for studying the top quark due to its higher collision energy.

Is it possible that the top quark is not found at Fermilab because it doesn't exist?

No, the top quark has been conclusively proven to exist through multiple experiments at different particle accelerators. Its properties have been studied extensively and it is a crucial piece of the Standard Model of particle physics.

Could the top quark be found at Fermilab in the future?

It is unlikely that the top quark will be studied at Fermilab in the future as the focus of particle physics research has shifted to the LHC. However, new experiments and technologies may be developed at Fermilab in the future that could potentially study the top quark in new ways.

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