11/16/2012

Searching for ‘The Particle at the End of the Universe’

This track is an example of simulated data of a decay path of the Higgs boson. The Higgs boson is produced in the collision of two protons at 14 TeV and quickly decays into four muons, a type of heavy electron that is not absorbed by the detector. The tracks of the muons are shown in red.
This track is an example of simulated data of a decay path of the Higgs boson. The Higgs boson is produced in the collision of two protons at 14 TeV and quickly decays into four muons, a type of heavy electron that is not absorbed by the detector. The tracks of the muons are shown in red. Image courtesy of CERN

In July, physicists at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider announced finding signs of a Higgs boson-like particle—a key clue to questions about the basic makeup of the cosmos. In his new book The Particle at the End of the Universe, physicist Sean Carroll of Caltech talks about the building of the LHC, what it has found so far, and what researchers hope to investigate in the coming years.

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Sean Carroll

Dr. Sean Carroll is the author of The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion, and is the Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

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As Science Friday’s director and senior producer, Charles Bergquist channels the chaos of a live production studio into something sounding like a radio program. Favorite topics include planetary sciences, chemistry, materials, and shiny things with blinking lights.