While fierce fighting is going on for supremacy in Aleppo, Syrias biggest town, thousands of civilians are fleeing the country (picture above).
Meanwhile, the Free Syrian Army is considering how to replace the old Syrian system in case Assad would leave the country. That option has been urgently offered to Assad by Leon Panetta, U.S. secretary for defense, following a similar proposal by the PM and
foreign minister of Qatar who spoke on behalf of the community of Arabic nations some days before.
الجيش السوري الحر يقترح مشروع إنقاذ وطني للمرحلة الانتقالية بعد سقوط نظام الأسد
The Free Syrian Army proposes a plan of national rescue for the period of transition after the fall of the Assad regime.
الجيش السوري الحر: أي حكومة تشكل من دون أن تتبنى كامل مطالب الثورة لن تحظى بأي شرعية وطنية و ثورية
The Free Syrian Army: [Any] government formed without [coping with] all demands of a revolution will not benefit from [any] national and revolutionary legitimacy.
[Sources: CNN and Al-Jazeera, Arabic TV]
Violent fightings in the biggest town of Syria (above):
Red marked areas of Aleppo have been shelled by government troops since July 21, 2012. [Source: Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat on July 31, 2012]
Important data for Aleppo province:
24% of Syria's inhabitants
22.8% of Syria's working force
30% of Syria's industry
48% of Syria's agriculture (i.e. wheat and barley)
[Source: Al-Jazeera, Arabic TV, on August 1st, 2012]
Prisoner belonging to a pro-government militia with typical tattoos showing his loyalty to the ruling family (above: portraits) and Hezbollah (below: Arabic writing). The prisoner's skin is showing deep cuts probably indicating indecent treatment by rebel guards. Other prisoners, belonging to regular government forces, seem to be better treated than militiamen who are being related to arbitrary
killings of civilians.
[Report: CNN on August 1st, 2012]
لجان التنسيق المحلية في سوريا: 90 قتيلا معظمهم في دمشق و ريفها و ديرالزور و حلب
[According to] local committees of coordination in Syria, 90 [should have] died, most of them in Damascus and [its] outskirts, in Derisur and Aleppo.
[Source: Al-Jazeera, Arabic TV, on August 1st, 2012]
Editorial note: On [July] 22 the director's board of Canada's Nexen Oil Company proclaimed having approved the purchase of 66% of [Nexen] shares by China's General Maritime Oil Company for a price of 15.1 billion US $. Canada's television station CTV says if the purchase succeeded, this would mean the Asian company's most significant incorporated buying action in Canada up to now. It would be as well the biggest purchase abroad at one stroke for China's industry of energy resources. Why, after seven years [...], is China's Maritime Oil buying Nexen for another time ? Is there any far-reaching significance in it ?
[Editorial note by Ulysses: China's General Maritime Oil Company is better known as CNOOC = China Offshore Oil Company]
In order to answer the questions asked in the Chinese editorial note above, it is necessary to rely on further information. Some days earlier, on 23 July 2012, "gCaptain", a provider for maritime and offshore news, published an article on the Nexus deal. Some important facts from that article are quoted below:
State-owned CNOOC is China’s largest offshore oil company. The deal will give it ownership of oil and gas reserves in western Canada, the U.K. North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Nigeria.
In 2012, approximately 70% of Nexen’s output is expected to come from offshore fields, according to Nexen’s website, making it a good fit for the Chinese company’s offshore fields. In 2011, Nexen produced around 207,000 barrels a day of oil equivalent.
Nexen, which describes itself as a major player in Canada’s oil sands sector, is also a producer of shale gas, in northeastern British Columbia.
In a statement on the Hong Kong stock exchange, CNOOC said it will fund the deal through existing cash resources and external financing. Nexen’s current debt of around $4.3 billion will remain outstanding, CNOOC said.
If the deal is approved by Nexen shareholders, Nexen will become a wholly owned subsidiary of CNOOC, the statement said.
Now it is clear that China's state-run company already owns 33% of Nexen shares. Therefore it is no "second purchase" of the same company but a completion of a gigantic business coup that gives China control over very many oil drilling sites distributed all over the world !
Subject of discussion in today's broadcast "Behind the News ماوراء الخبر" from Al-Jazeera, Arabic service, is the application of both candidates in the coming presidential elections to come to terms with Israel.
What is named "act" in the following translation because of missing precision in the original text is referring to Obama's signature of the new "U.S.-Israel Enhanced Security Act" the day before and which means more money for Israel's military. Obama's signature and Romney's visit to Israel should therefore be seen in the light of gaining votes from an influential Jewish community in the U.S.A. as represented by groups like the conservative "Christians United for Israel".
توقيع أوباما جاء قبل يوم واحد من زيارة منافسه في الانتخابات ميت رومني إلى إسرائيل
Obama already gave [his] signature the day before his competitor in the [coming] elections, Mitt Romney, [began] his visit to Israel.
مراقبون يربطون بين توقيع القانون و قرب موعد الانتخابات حيث يسعى أوباما للفوز بفترة ثانية
Observers are [considering a] connection between the signature of [the act *] and the near date of elections where Obama is striving for the success of a second period [as a president].
مراقبون: توقيع أوباما للقانون و زيارة رومني لإسرائيل يعكسان سعيهما لكسب أصوات اليهود
Observers: Obama's signature of [the act *] and Romney's visit to Israel are reflecting their application to benefit from Jewish votes.
أنطوان شلحة - باحث بالمركز الفلسطيني للدراسات الإسرائيلية
Anthony Shalakha - Investigator at the Palestinian Center of Israeli Studies (above)
ميت رومني حصل على تأييد الجمهوريين لمواجهة أوباما في الانتخابات الرئاسية المقبلة
Mitt Romney reached the confirmation of the Republicans to confront Obama in the presidential elections to come.
باراك أوباما: القانون الجديد يعكس التزامنا الثابت بأمن إسرائيل
Barack Obama: The new act [*] is reflecting the persistent [actualization] for Israel's security.
القانون يتيح لإسرائيل الحصول على مزيد من الأسلحة و الذخائر الأمريكية
The act [*] allows Israel to obtain further weapons and U.S. [reserves].
الرئيس الأمريكي باراك أوباما يوقع على قانون يدعم التعاون العسكري مع اسرائيل
U.S. President Barack Obama [concentrates] on the act [*] supporting military cooperation with Israel.
Elementary Physics - Munich Strings 2012
On July 28, 2012, we enjoyed an academic highlight at Ludwig-Maximilian's University in Munich, Germany.
It was a public lecture on how modern string theory can be applied in the description of elementary particles and their behaviour in the frame of latest experiments carried out at the Large Hadron Collider LHC site of CERN, Geneva. At the end of an international symposium, two top referents from the front of either theoretical or experimental research provided an intelligible introduction into that difficult subject, thereby facing a numerous audience comprising all ages. It must be noted that almost every listener remained on his seat up to the last second, even though it was a difficult subject to learn about and the day was hot and sultry.
Prof. Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Director General of CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, spoke about "The 'World Machine' LHC at CERN - Insights into an Early Universe" in German. Later, theoretical physicist Prof. Edward Witten from the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University held his lecture on "String Theory And The Universe" in English.
Prof. Edward Witten, Princeton University, U.S.A.
The subject will be dealt with some time later in a special webpage. For a first approach to elementary particle physics, I recommend another blogspot of mine on the discovery of a particle suspected to be the Higgs boson.
Visitor access point to "blueprint news" related to the recommended link above. That visitor came today and has been identified as being from CERN. His or her position is near Annecy where the LHC should be located.
Government troops and rebels are preparing a decisive battle for Aleppo, Syria's most populated town. Meanwhile fighting is going on in Damascus and Al-Rastan (Homs province) [Al-Jazeera News]
Here are some remarkable TV screenshots:
Shelling of Al-Rastan by government troops (left) and traces of fighting in Derisur (right).
Doctor in a hospital treating rebel fighters (left) and rebel camp in Idlib (right).
Chinese source: Russia is urging the Syrian government not to move its chemical weapons, expecting the Syrian side to act according to their responsibility. [Russia's ministry of foreign affairs on July 24]
Different Western sources: Israel is threatening the Assad regime to resort to military action if biological and chemical weapons are being transferred to Hezbollah. Israel's minister of foreign affairs Liberman confirmed his country's position on an annual meeting of the European-Israeli contact group in Brussels.
مجزرة جديدة في سجن خلب على يد النظام والحصيلة مقتل 15 سجيناً
New massacre in a prison, [fallen into] the hands of the regime, produced a death rate of 15 prisoners.
BREAKING NEWS
الجيش الحر يتهم الأسد بنقل سلاح كيميائي إلى الحدود
The Liberation Army accuses Assad of moving a chemical weapon to the border.
Additional news from Al-Jazeera TV, Arabic channel, on July 24, 2012:
الرائيس الأميركي يحذر النظام السوري من مغبة استخدام الأسلحة الكيماوية و باريس تعتبر استخدامها غير مقبول
America's president is warning the Syrian regime on the consequences of using chemical weapons while Paris is considering the possibility of own consequences.
إعدامات ميدانية في المزة بدمشق بطرق انتقامية
[On-the-spot] executions in [the outskirts] of Damascus as blows of revenge.
مسلحون لبنانيون في البقاع يخطفون سوريين للمبادلة
Armed Lebanese [in different places] are seizing Syrians for an exchange.
[Editor's comment: In the past, Syrian military has repeatedly crossed the Lebanese border in order to follow and capture Syrian citizens fleeing their country. There were as well reports of encroachment on Lebanese citizens during such incursions.]
According to a Russian News Agency report from July 20 and that is quoting Bulgarian media, the suicide bomber suspect, involved in a surprise attack on an Israeli tourist bus in Bulgaria, is probably a former U.S. prisoner locked up in Guantánamo prison, Cuba.
Bulgarian media confirm the suspect's name being Mehdi Ghezali, aged 33 and a Swedish citizen of Algerian extraction. On [July] 18, local time, he mounted a bus with Israeli tourists that was stopping at Burgas airport, Bulgaria. Soon afterwards he
detonated the bomb he carried on his body. The explosion killed 5 Israelis and the local [bus] driver. At that time, there were 40 Israeli tourists on board. Furthermore, Ghezali held a U.S. passport and a [Michigan] driving license.
Bulgarian and Swedish officials immediately denied the media report, saying that the suicide bomber's name was wrong [and that] Ghezali was not the perpetrator of this case of suicide attack. Bulgarian authorities already have gathered evidence at the detonation site, including the criminal suspect's fingerprints and DNA, [while working] together with America's FBI and CIA as well as Israel's security.
Bulgarian media are saying that Ghezali was kept in Guantánamo prison between 2002 and 2004 under suspicion of being [a member] of Al-Qaeda organization's secret service. In 2004, he was transferred to the Swedish authorities who set him free only some time later. The Bulgarian government is saying the attacker might have arrived some days before, probably after having enjoyed some support.
Comment by Ulysses:
After having read related reports on the suicide bombing in Bulgaria from different sources (New York Times and Haaretz, Israel), I decided to translate the full article from its Chinese original version. Any information received from other sources is being related to some kind of secret war between Iran and its "protégé" Hezbollah on one side and Israel (and some U.S. circles) on the other side.
While such constellation is usually taken as an excuse for another round of terrorism and "counter-terrorism", ordinary people are getting more and more fed up. Only to look at a list of reader's comments on the website of Haaretz which I did not expect. If the Bulgarian media are right in their estimation of the recent suicide bombing, this can mean another problem for the U.S. who are now facing the resistence of those "poor devils" who had been illegally and with little evidence dragged to Guantánamo and there probably turned into some kind of "freelance" terrorists.
.....
The attacks, the [senior U.S.] official said, were in retaliation for the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, for which Iran has blamed Israeli agents — an accusation that Israel has neither confirmed nor denied. “This was tit for tat,” said the American official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still under way.
.....
Israeli officials were swift to blame Iran on Wednesday in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, and Mr. Netanyahu did not let up on Thursday. “The time has come for all countries that know the truth to speak it,” he said at the news conference. “Iran is the one behind the wave of terror. Iran is the No. 1 exporter of terror in the world.”
Mr. Netanyahu added, “A terrorist state must not have a nuclear weapon.”
.....
The bomber had a fake Michigan driver’s license, but there are no indications that he had any connection to the United States, the American official said, adding that there were no details yet about the bomber like his name or nationality. He also declined to describe what specific intelligence — intercepted communications, analysis of the bomber’s body parts or other details — that led analysts to conclude that the bomber belonged to Hezbollah.
.....
Speaking on the attack earlier Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday’s attack in the coastal city of Burgas, in which five Israelis were killed, was carried out by Hezbollah with Iranian backing.
“We will pursue the attackers and extract a heavy price from those who sent them,” Netanyahu said, adding, “We will continue fighting Iranian terror, we will act against it with great force.”
“For over a year, Iran, along with its protégé Hezbollah, has been waging an international terror campaign,” he said, calling Iran “the world’s number one exporter of terror” and Hezbollah its “long arm.”
Netanyahu said Iran and Hezbollah were responsible for a number of attacks and attempted attacks against Israeli targets, in Thailand, Georgia, India, Greece, Cyprus and other countries.
Israel and its Neighbours:
For the 15th time since the revolution of January 25:
Detonation at the Egyptian gas pipeline to Israel.
[Above:] Traces of a detonation in February last year
at the pipeline that provides Israel with [natural] gas.
Egypt is founding companies for the
exploitation of minerals in Africa.
Source: Al-Jazeera, Arabic website, on July 22, 2012.
What is Moving the Iranian People:
احتجاجات على سعر الدجاج تتحول لمظاهرات في إيران
Protests against the price of poultry are
transforming into demonstrations in Iran.
أطلقوا شعارات تقول: على الحكومة أن تخجل وتحل عن الشعب
[Intonation] of slogans saying:
"Shame for the government" and "Apologize to the people".
Source: Al-Arabiya, Arabic website, on July 23, 2012.
Visitor access points to "blueprint news"
in Bulgaria and the Palestinian Territory:
Please note: Up to the above used zoom level, localization of single visitors should not be possible. Higher zoom levels, if available, or automatically collected technical information about visitors' equipment will not be published. Furthermore, all relevant information will be automatically deleted after 14 days.
Last Update further down ! ..........
情也看到叙利亚军队谴责平民吧！
According to latest news from Al-Jazeera at 12:00 GMT, the Syrian defence minister Daoud Rajha (above) should have been killed and several other senior security officials wounded after a suicide bomber struck the National Security building in Damascus during a meeting of cabinet ministers and senior security officials.
On July 19, People's Network, Beijing, published that Syria's vice minister for defence (below) was deadly wounded as well in the attack that took place not far from PR China's embassy in Damascus.
Syrian army at the bombing site (above).
Al-Jazeera Online quoting a member of the Free Syrian Army on their Arabic website (July 19):
أبو حمزة -وهو أحد أفراد الجيش السوري الحر-
Abu Hamza, one of those in the Free Syrian Army.
أبو حمزة -وهو من الجيش السوري- قال إن الثوار سعوا إلى لتجنيد معاونين لشخصيات بارزة في النظام من أجل تنفيذ هجمات، وقد حقق الثوار بعض النجاحات في هذا المجال
Abu Hamza who [originally came from] the Syrian army said that the rebels [have expanded] for the mobilization of those among the people willing to cooperate in organized fighting in order to realize attacks. And the rebels have already gained some success in that field.
الدستورية العليا في مصر تقرر وقف تنفيذ قرار عودة مجلس الشعب, و الرئيس مرسي يعتبرها غير
مختصة
The Supreme Constitutional [Court] of Egypt has decided to stop the realisation of a resolution to recall the People's Council [i.e. parliament], while President Morsy is considering [the court] to be incompetent.
After the Supreme Court's decision, people began gathering again on Tahrir Square in Kairo. [Source: Al-Jazeera, Arabic channel, evening news]
U.S. Foreign Secretary Clinton has called on all parties involved to better resort to negotiations. [different sources]
Egypt's dissolved parliament convened on Tuesday in defiance of the powerful military and the judiciary, amid a legal crisis triggered by a presidential decree to reinstate the Islamist-led assembly.
"We are gathered today to review the court rulings, the ruling of the Supreme Constitutional Court," which ordered the house invalid, speaker Saad al-Katatni said.
"I want to stress, we are not contradicting the ruling, but looking at a mechanism for the implementation of the ruling of the respected court. There is no other agenda today," he added.
Last month, the Supreme Constitutional Court said certain articles in the law governing the parliamentary elections were invalid, annulling the house.
The military, which ruled Egypt after Hosni Mubarak was ousted in last year's popular uprising, then dissolved the house and took legislative control using a document granting the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) sweeping powers.
Activated internet access points for visitors from West-Africa to "blueprint news" for the last 200 visitors registered on July 11:
Late news from Al-Jazeera TV, Arabic channel, on July 9, 2012.
المفوضية العليا للانتخابات في ليبيا تعلن نتائج أولية في عدد من الدوائر الانتخابية بنظامي الفردي و القائمة
The high-commission for the elections in Libya is publishing first results from systematic counting of individual [votes] listed within the election districts.
النتائج الأولية لانتخابات المؤتمر الوطني الليبي تشير إلى تقدم تحالف القوى الوطنية
First results from the elections for the National Congress of Libya are hinting at a priority of the Coalition of Patriotic Forces. *
* = According to the Arabic text, the party's name might be as well:
Alliance of National Forces. It depends on how they call themselves. I had no time to check it over.
So, it's really the Alliance of National Forces (ANF) that is winning the elections ! Here is what an Arabic online source published at 8:39 Central European Time, i.e. some 30 minutes after the completion of my own blogspot:
" The Alliance of National Forces (ANF) led by Mahmoud Jibril, who headed the Transitional National Council (CNT) during the Libyan revolt, tops the list following the recent legislative elections in Libya, according to partial results announced Monday night by the election commission.
After counting 75% of the ballots, it was indicated that the ANF led the Islamist camp, whose Justice and Construction Party (JCP) was formed by the Muslim Brotherhoods. The Homeland Union, headed by a longtime opponent of Muammar Qaddafi's regime, leads in Misrata, the third largest city in the country.
One day after the election , the Liberal coalition has already said it was ahead in most constituencies. However, the final results will be declared later this week as counting could last another four or five days, indicated the electoral commission, which did not set a date for the official announcement of the winner.
..... "
[Source: Al-Bawaba البوابة]
The newly elected President of Egypt, Mohammad Morsy, recalled parliament after it had been dismissed by Egypt's Military Council. The military had acted immediately after Egypt's highest court had invalidated the parliamentary elections held in June. The first freely elected parliament in Egypt would have provided a sound basis of power for the new president.
Reacting on this new development, Egypt's military council SCAF called for an emergency meeting. Fears of a military coup are rising. [Source: CNN]
Headline of Al-Arabiya on July 8, 2012:
قرار مرسي يسحب السلطة التشريعية من العسكري
بمقتضاه من المفترض أن يعود إلى ثكناته في 15 يوليو الجاري
Morsy's decision is [to take away] legislative power from the military, his demand implying a return [of the troops] to their quarters [until] July 15.
Later UPDATES included ! .................... 中文的网站
Announcement on German TV (above).
At the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) site in Geneva, the existence of a new elementary particle, resembling the predicted Higgs boson, has been confirmed. The news have been unveiled today in a conference on latest results of elementary particle research in Geneva. Peter Higgs who once predicted the existence of a similar boson and gave it his name received international congratulations, even though it is not quite clear if the new particle found in experiments is really identical with the Higgs boson. As to the theory of that mysterious Higgs particle, here is what CERN Institute in Geneva, who are operating the LHC facility there, recently published:
" A major breakthrough in particle physics came in the 1970s when physicists realized that there are very close ties between two of the four fundamental forces – namely, the weak force and the electromagnetic force. The two forces can be described within the same theory, which forms the basis of the Standard Model. This ‘unification’ implies that electricity, magnetism, light and some types of radioactivity are all manifestations of a single underlying force called, unsurprisingly, the electroweak force. But in order for this unification to work mathematically, it requires that the force-carrying particles have no mass. We know from experiments that this is not true, so physicists Peter Higgs, Robert Brout and François Englert came up with a solution to solve this conundrum.
They suggested that all particles had no mass just after the Big Bang. As the Universe cooled and the temperature fell below a critical value, an invisible force field called the ‘Higgs field’ was formed together with the associated ‘Higgs boson’. The field prevails throughout the cosmos: any particles that interact with it are given a mass via the Higgs boson. The more they interact, the heavier they become, whereas particles that never interact are left with no mass at all.
This idea provided a satisfactory solution and fitted well with established theories and phenomena. The problem is that no one has ever observed the Higgs boson in an experiment to confirm the theory. Finding this particle would give an insight into why particles have certain mass, and help to develop subsequent physics. The technical problem is that we do not know the mass of the Higgs boson itself, which makes it more difficult to identify. Physicists have to look for it by systematically searching a range of mass within which it is predicted to exist. The yet unexplored range is accessible using the Large Hadron Collider, which will determine the existence of the Higgs boson. If it turns out that we cannot find it, this will leave the field wide open for physicists to develop a completely new theory to explain the origin of particle mass. "
On the contrary, if the Higgs particle is found as it seems to be by now, this will imply the confirmation of an already found theory and light the way to further experiments and discoveries on the functioning of our universe.
By the way, I heard about today's press conference in Geneva some days before when I visited Max-Planck-Institute of Physics (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut) in Munich. On a visitor's day dedicated to quantum mechanics and astrophysics they already gave some cryptic hints about new discoveries to be awaited in the immediate future. It was then for me to wait only some days for the announcement.
The German Werner-Heisenberg-Institute is engaged in scientific research done for the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva as one of the main detectors for this project, named the ATLAS detector, has been constructed with the aid of German physicists. ATLAS is an enormous and most sophisticated detector consisting of four main elements:
- An inner detector that measures the momentum of charged particles.
- A calorimeter unit for the measurement of energies carried by particles.
- A Muon spectrometer that identifies and measures the momenta of Muons.
- A magnet system bends charged particles for momentum measurement. The solenoid magnet surrounds the inner detector. Arrows point to toroid magnets.
The ATLAS detector can be used not only to detect the Higgs boson but as well to enlighten the relation between matter and antimatter and to find possible constituents of dark matter.
ATLAS detector under construction (above).
Large Hadron Collider LHC (above):
Accelerating circle for charged elementary particles and detector positions.
Because of the Higgs boson being a very massive particle and which decays almost immediately when created, only a very high energy particle accelerator can observe and record it. That's why the LHC is being used. Its special feature is the ability to collide protons being accelerated to a speed not too far away from the speed of light. Under such circumstances, a "zoo" of elementary particles can be created and rarely observed events might be detected. It was the idea that, with some luck, even the predicted Higgs particle could be observed. As to that, latest measuring results are giving rise to great hopes.
According to detailed information, measuring data have been compared from two separate main detectors of the LHC facility: The ATLAS detector and the CMS device which is an electromagnetic crystal calorimeter (=> refer to the above illustration). Both experiments are proving the existence of a very massive particle regarded as the Higgs boson or something very near to it.
Above: A typical candidate event for the possible formation of Higgs bosons including two high-energy photons whose energy (depicted by red towers) is measured in the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter. The yellow lines are the measured tracks of other particles produced in the collision of protons. The pale blue volume shows the CMS crystal calorimeter barrel.
Above pictures: One mechanism of formation for the Higgs particle in the Large Hadron Collider. A gluon-gluon fusion, triggered off by a proton-proton collision, is leading to a so-called top quark loop where pairs of top and anti-top quarks are being generated. From there the formation of a Higgs boson. The upper picture is showing a possible way how the Higgs particle can decay by emitting two high energy photons that can be measured in the CMS calorimeter. ( A short description of above mentioned elementary particles is given further down. )
Here is what Scientific American wrote after the announcements from CERN:
" Unlike some past announcements centered on the Higgs in the past few years, which have produced as much ambiguity and confusion as anything else, this one did not disappoint. ATLAS physicists said that their most recent data reveal the presence of an unknown particle with a mass of about 126.5 GeV, or 126.5 billion electron-volts. An electron-volt is a physicist’s unit of mass or energy; for comparison, the proton has a mass of about 1 GeV. The CMS collaboration found evidence for a new particle with a mass of 125.3 GeV.
[The traditional characterization of a particle's mass "m" in terms of energy "E" is referring to Einstein's equation E = m c² where "c" is the speed of light. As to the Higgs particle detected, its average mass is corresponding to that of 132 protons.]
Crucially, both teams' findings appear exceptionally robust. In physics terms, evidence for a new particle requires a “3-sigma” measurement, corresponding to a 1-in-740 chance that a random fluke could explain the observations, and a claim of discovery requires a 5-sigma effect, or a 1-in–3.5 million shot that the observations are due to chance. In December representatives of the two experiments had announced what one called “intriguing, tantalizing hints” of something brewing in the collider data. But those hints fell short of the 3-sigma level. The new ATLAS finding met not just that level of significance but cleared the gold standard 5-sigma threshold, and CMS very nearly did as well, with a 4.9-sigma finding. "
Above: One possible signature of a Higgs boson from a simulated proton–proton collision. It decays almost immediately into two jets of hadrons and two electrons, visible as lines. Hadrons are massive particles bearing the mass of, at least, two or more protons (or neutrons).
Above: Formation and decay of a Higgs boson. This time it's a decay into hadrons and leptons. If leptons are being represented by electrons, we have a situation like that predicted for the simulated process further above where two jets of hadrons and two electrons are being produced.
Above: Another mechanism of formation for the Higgs particle in the Large Hadron Collider. From there it could be imagined that different patterns of decay might exist as well as can be studied in the simulation further above.
Above: Summary of interactions between particles described by the Standard Model. Leptons are particles with negligible mass like electrons. Quarks are considered to be the basic constituents of all elementary particles while gluons are either keeping protons and neutrons together in the nucleus of an atom or "glue" together those quarks that constitute more complicated structures like protons. The W and Z particles are massive bosons like the predicted Higgs boson itself while photons are massless "parcels of energy".
According to a mainstream theory in particle physics, the Higgs boson is essential for the transference of mass to any other particle known in the formation of "real" matter as we know it from daily experience in the world we live in. The transference of mass by means of a Higgs field and which is, in most theories, represented by a Higgs particle could then be imagined using the following model of thought, the Cocktail Party Simile:
A group of people is gathering on a cocktail party, no one knowing each other. At first, those persons are rather regularly distributed until a well-known celebrity appears that attracts the interest of everybody. People are now approaching that celebrity who finds it more and more difficult to move because of a growing cluster of persons in his/her reach. A similar effect would have been reached if the celebrity's inert mass was growing without other people surrounding him or her. An increase or transference of mass would therefore take place whenever a certain particle or person with a special ability to attract or transfer mass appears in a defined environment of other particles or persons. Same thing would happen if only a "massless rumour" enters into a cocktail party environment. People would cluster in order to hear what it's all about and thereby create a ball of mass. Such could be the mechanism predicted for the interaction of elementary particles with the Higgs boson.
While speaking about the importance of Higgs particles in the formation of "real" matter that everybody is attached to in daily life, it needs to be mentioned that only 5% of all matter present in the universe really belong to that kind of matter. Further 20% of all matter are being represented by so-called dark matter we don't know much about. Moreover, the remaining 75% of all matter in the universe can be considered as the mass equivalent of a so-called dark energy which makes up for another field of future research.
As mass media are usually inclined to overestimate the importance of a single discovery on the way to greater understanding of our universe, the word of a "God Particle" has been associated with the Higgs boson. It should be made clear that "God" doesn't appear in the vocabulary of modern physics. Peter Higgs is an atheist, and is displeased that the Higgs particle is nicknamed the "God particle", because that term "might offend people who are religious" [Higgs in an interview with New Scientists, 2008].
Above: Headline of People's Network, Beijing, on July 7, the first day they reacted on a recent announcement from CERN. The headline is reading:
“上帝粒子”原是“上帝诅咒粒子”
The "God Particle" originally is a "Goddamned Particle"
which is a quotation from Peter Higgins referring to the long time it took to approach the particle's existence.
In different articles, the Chinese network is praising the new particle detection as a "big step for mankind" and marking its importance:
发现新粒子印证数学预言能力
The discovery of that new particle confirms
the capacity of mathematical prediction.
On July 10, 2012, China Daily, Beijing, published an article titled "Chinese link in missing-link breakthrough". In that article they are telling us that Chinese physicists have been contributing to one of the most ambitious scientific experiments ever attempted - a search for the missing link [i.e. the Higgs boson] at the beginning of the universe. There are quotations from Chen Guoming, one of 30 Chinese scientists who represented the Institute of High Energy Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences during the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider facility in Geneva. Chen was one of 3,000 scientists from 175 universities or research institutions in 38 countries and regions who have spent several years at the Large Hadron Collider site of CERN.
The above article on Higgs boson experiments has
been compiled by Dr. rer.nat. Wolfgang Wiesner.
Internet access points for Washington D.C. and outskirts, activated between 29 June and 14 July, 2012, by visitors to "blueprint news":
"Postcard" from the White House:
"Massive elementary particles colliding over the issue [i.e. Syria]".
Internet access points for New York / New Jersey, activated between 19 June and 4 July, 2012, by visitors to "blueprint news":
Localized visitor access point in Manhattan / New York, activated by a visitor who looked for another blogspot of mine on astronomy:
Postscript on September 6, 2013:
For more than one year, the above blogspot on elementary physics has been visited by lots of professionals who came from different parts of the world. This blogspot even became one of the most popular items of my news blog. Among many remarkable visitors or institutions the following example should serve as a proof for that.
