Can Higgs experiment give other new particles

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on whether the measurements from the Higgs boson discovery at the LHC could potentially reveal other new elementary particles. Participants explore the implications of data filtering and the nature of particle collisions at the LHC.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants question whether the LHC measurements are too specific to detect other new particles beyond the Higgs boson.
  • Others note that the LHC is designed to collide protons, producing a variety of particles, and that the search for new particles is an ongoing effort by the detector groups.
  • One participant emphasizes that the LHC's data is filtered based on specific properties, which may limit the discovery of other particles.
  • There is mention of the different operational modes of electron-positron colliders compared to the LHC, suggesting that the approach to searching for particles varies significantly between these types of experiments.
  • Some participants propose that the lack of discoveries of other particles could be due to the filtering process, while others suggest that it might indicate there are no additional particles in the relevant energy range.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the implications of data filtering and the nature of particle production at the LHC. There is no consensus on whether the filtering process is the primary reason for the lack of new particle discoveries.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights the complexities of data analysis in high-energy physics and the challenges of identifying new particles amidst a vast amount of collision data. There are unresolved questions regarding the assumptions made about the filtering process and its impact on discovery.

exponent137
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The Higgs experiment was intended to discover Higgs boson. But, can measurement data give any other new elementary particles? Or, are the measurements so specific, that other particles cannot be seen?
 
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The LHC detector groups are certainly looking for signs of new particles. For example, the published technical reports of the Atlas group regarding these searches are at

https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/AtlasPublic/SupersymmetryPublicResults
https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/AtlasPublic/ExoticsPublicResults

To a certain extent, they need to know what to look for. There are far too many collisions occurring within the detectors to store all of the data, let alone analyze. Some information on the trigger system at Atlas can probably be found from the references here.
 
There is no "Higgs experiment". The LHC collides protons with protons, and those collisions produce all sorts of particles as long as they are not too heavy. The production of a Higgs boson is just one of many processes which can happen in an interaction. If there are other new particles, they could be produced as well, and the LHC detectors look for those particles, too.

At electron-positron-colliders (like LEP, or the planned ILC), this is different - usually you have to choose which process you want to study, and adjust the energy accordingly.
 
mfb said:
There is no "Higgs experiment". The LHC collides protons with protons, and those collisions produce all sorts of particles as long as they are not too heavy. The production of a Higgs boson is just one of many processes which can happen in an interaction. If there are other new particles, they could be produced as well, and the LHC detectors look for those particles, too.

At electron-positron-colliders (like LEP, or the planned ILC), this is different - usually you have to choose which process you want to study, and adjust the energy accordingly.

At least, Higgs experiment has very large fitered base of data, thus, all data are not collected for further analysis. Data are filtered for properties of Higgs, isn't it?

It is strange to me that no other particles were discovered, so this filtering is the only explanation for me, am I right?
 
exponent137 said:
At least, Higgs experiment has very large fitered base of data, thus, all data are not collected for further analysis. Data are filtered for properties of Higgs, isn't it?
The LHC experiments use sophisticated triggers to keep only interesting events, right. There are many different triggers - some of them are designed for events with Higgs particles, some of them are designed for supersymmetric particles, some of them are designed for "everything decaying to high-energetic muons" and so on. A lot of time was spent to make sure that basically everything detectable has some trigger line in order to find it.

It is strange to me that no other particles were discovered, so this filtering is the only explanation for me, am I right?
"There are no other particles in this energy range" is a perfectly valid option.
 

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