CERN has collected about 5.7 fb^-1 data. But the December announcements by ATLAS and CMS only use 4.76 or 4.9 of them. The December announcements also do not analyze a number of other decay channels. Why?
Maybe the Higgs bumps would disappear with the larger number of data? Would the hint of a Higgs disappear if all data and all channels would be used? Did CERN tweak the data in such a way that it looks like a hint of Higgs, in order to keep optimism in the media?
Since many months (almost a year), CERN also did not update the sheet which summarizes all its (negative) BSM (beyond the standard model) search results.
My prediction from some time ago in this blog came true: CERN is holding back data that proves that there is no physics beyond the standard model, and is feeding the media with selected data that shows "hints" of new physics. And they are doing it so well that nobody seems to notice.
18 December 2011
Multiverse and Professor Doktor Dietmar Lüst
A friend sent me a new book about string theory by Dietmar Lüst (or Luest). Do not read it.
There is no original or interesting idea in the book. All is copied from other popularizing string theory books. He even manages to copy - copying text is a hobby in his country - only the worst ideas across the field: a lot about the book is on the multiverse.
I think every time a professor uses the word `multiverse', his salary should be cut by 20%. Lüst would be sleeping under bridges. He is an example of what happens when a smart man gets too much influence and no control (as most German professors): he goes bonkers.
There is no original or interesting idea in the book. All is copied from other popularizing string theory books. He even manages to copy - copying text is a hobby in his country - only the worst ideas across the field: a lot about the book is on the multiverse.
I think every time a professor uses the word `multiverse', his salary should be cut by 20%. Lüst would be sleeping under bridges. He is an example of what happens when a smart man gets too much influence and no control (as most German professors): he goes bonkers.
17 December 2011
No Higgs found yet
Look at the data collected at CERN. The plot with the strongest evidence is the one in the digamma channels. The two curves by ATLAS and CMS (see the links in the post by Woit) are extremely disappointing: no sober person will see any signal in those curves.
The rest is hype.
The rest is hype.
3 December 2011
Pregnancy and the Higgs
These are exciting times - for me and for particle physics.
The prospects for a Higgs are remote though. The LHC obviously has not found anything.
Update on December 14th: a handful of events without statistical importance seen at the LHC have put the world press into a frenzy. We are living in crazy times. Fact: no Higgs has been found, the mass window is even smaller.
The prospects for a Higgs are remote though. The LHC obviously has not found anything.
Update on December 14th: a handful of events without statistical importance seen at the LHC have put the world press into a frenzy. We are living in crazy times. Fact: no Higgs has been found, the mass window is even smaller.
19 November 2011
G does not run
A new paper argues convincingly that Newton's constant G does not run with energy. This is a criticism of many papers that claim that such a running exists.
But one moment: the strand model also makes this point. (And Schiller does not even mention it, I think.) So his model is vindicated again.
But one moment: the strand model also makes this point. (And Schiller does not even mention it, I think.) So his model is vindicated again.
20 October 2011
How will CERN manage the lack of discoveries?
CERN management is nervous. After having spent 5 billion euros to build the LHC, the lack of discoveries, unanimously predicted by all physicists in the world, is embarassing. The latest internal CERN proposal on how to deal with the situation makes two statements.
- No discovery is even more interesting than the discovery of the Higgs. It would be "revolutionary".
- CERN needs to take more data to say more.
What a weak report! Since the report is so weak, I bet that:
- CERN will NOT publish the Higgs results for the first 5 inverse femtobarns this year.
- CERN will SPREAD the results (say for 3 fb^-1, then for 4, then for 5) over various months in 2012, to stay in the press, even though the results will be available long before those dates.
There will be a distressingly long waiting time ahead, due to bad politics only.
In the meantime, CERN people should read Schiller's strand model. He predicted the lack of any new discoveries a few years ago. He also proposes a consistent solution for all open problems of the standard model. And he did not need 5 billion euros to do so.
- No discovery is even more interesting than the discovery of the Higgs. It would be "revolutionary".
- CERN needs to take more data to say more.
What a weak report! Since the report is so weak, I bet that:
- CERN will NOT publish the Higgs results for the first 5 inverse femtobarns this year.
- CERN will SPREAD the results (say for 3 fb^-1, then for 4, then for 5) over various months in 2012, to stay in the press, even though the results will be available long before those dates.
There will be a distressingly long waiting time ahead, due to bad politics only.
In the meantime, CERN people should read Schiller's strand model. He predicted the lack of any new discoveries a few years ago. He also proposes a consistent solution for all open problems of the standard model. And he did not need 5 billion euros to do so.
11 October 2011
Motl will give back his PhD if the Higgs is not found
I just read Motl's comment on this blog, where he writes "If there’s a proof that there doesn’t exist any Higgs boson below a TeV, you may remind me to return my PhD."
He made this comment in a discussion where he stated that nobody who denies the Higgs should be allowed to work for a PhD in particle physics. This statement is not respectful, but at least he is consistent.
But the question remains: Why such a drastic, self-imposed punishment? If there is no Higgs, then 99.9% of all particle physicists were wrong in the past 40 years. So what? A punishment is only acceptable if people were *aware* that they were wrong.
He made this comment in a discussion where he stated that nobody who denies the Higgs should be allowed to work for a PhD in particle physics. This statement is not respectful, but at least he is consistent.
But the question remains: Why such a drastic, self-imposed punishment? If there is no Higgs, then 99.9% of all particle physicists were wrong in the past 40 years. So what? A punishment is only acceptable if people were *aware* that they were wrong.
6 October 2011
The ideology of international particle physicists
Read this link, called "Beacons of discovers", written in autumn 2011. It is a committee report on the future of particle physics, written among others, by Alvarez-Gaumé and Pier Oddone.
Among the big questions of particle physics, the committee puts "the search for extra dimensions".
The committee does NOT ask: "what is the origin of the fine structure constant?" Feynman said that this was the greatest open problem of particle physics. But present particle physicists don not agree; they prefer to ask nonsense questions instead of the real questions.
Every single member of that committee should be fired from his or her present job.
Among the big questions of particle physics, the committee puts "the search for extra dimensions".
The committee does NOT ask: "what is the origin of the fine structure constant?" Feynman said that this was the greatest open problem of particle physics. But present particle physicists don not agree; they prefer to ask nonsense questions instead of the real questions.
Every single member of that committee should be fired from his or her present job.
2 October 2011
Neutrino Madness
It is now becoming clear that neutrinos travel more slowly than light even in Italy. Of course, there was an Italian physicist who claimed the opposite, and misused his CERN affiliation to get this absurd claim into many newspapers.
It now turns out that the result is compatible with a neutrino speed below the speed of light, because the pulse shape is not defined as precisely as the Italian group claimed.
One has to know that the Gran Sasso is full of underground experiments, but no discovery whatsoever was made. The Gran Sasso experiments have the same problems that plague all present particle physics experiments: no discoveries whatsoever. The pressure on the researchers is mounting.
Experimental physicists have heard for 40 years from deluded theorists that many discoveries are to be made. After 40 years they actually believe this nonsense. But facts say otherwise: We already know almost all of particle physics, even if no theorist wants to admit this.
It now turns out that the result is compatible with a neutrino speed below the speed of light, because the pulse shape is not defined as precisely as the Italian group claimed.
One has to know that the Gran Sasso is full of underground experiments, but no discovery whatsoever was made. The Gran Sasso experiments have the same problems that plague all present particle physics experiments: no discoveries whatsoever. The pressure on the researchers is mounting.
Experimental physicists have heard for 40 years from deluded theorists that many discoveries are to be made. After 40 years they actually believe this nonsense. But facts say otherwise: We already know almost all of particle physics, even if no theorist wants to admit this.
10 September 2011
No mass calculation
The strand model, though my favorite, lacks a good explanation for particle masses. It does explain certain mass ratios, but it does not explain the absolute mass values. We should help on this topic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)