Higgs result means elegant universe is back in vogue

[hue]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328464.700-higgs-result-means-elegant-universe-is-back-in-vogue.html AFTER a short spell on the rocks, a mathematically elegant view of the universe is back in vogue. Recent hints of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider help explain why we have not seen evidence for the beautiful theory of supersymmetry yet - and point to fresh ways to focus the search.

Supersymmetry, or SUSY, is an extension to the standard model of how particles and forces interact. Via elegant equations, it posits that every fundamental particle - including quarks, electrons, photons and neutrinos - has a heavier, as yet unseen "superpartner" with slightly different properties (see diagram). This smooths some embarrassing wrinkles in the standard model. However, not one superpartner has yet shown up at the LHC, the particle smasher at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, prompting fears that, despite its beauty, SUSY could be wrong.

That changed on 13 December, when LHC physicists reported that they might have found traces of the Higgs boson, the standard-model particle that is thought to give all others mass. The data suggested a mass for the Higgs close to 125 gigaelectronvolts, 133 times that of the proton and too light for a Higgs to survive without a heavier companion particle, which could be a superpartner.

[jberryhill]

1. Not in some parts of Philadelphia

[Lionel Mandrake]

2. Signs of the superpartner of the top quark have already been spotted.