Access: Fascinating Magic


	Using the Alliance's Condor flock at the University of Wisconsin, researchers are simulating the physics that might take place inside tomorrow's most powerful particle colliders.

Albert Einstein spent the last 30 years of his life chasing a unified field theory. The prospect of fusing the forces of nature held what he called a "fascinating magic." Despite his efforts, however, a single mathematical system bringing together electromagnetism, gravitation, the strong nuclear force that holds subatomic particles together, and the weak nuclear force that governs atomic decay eluded him.

A unified theory still proves elusive. But the fascinating magic remains, and the search continues. As a part of the GriPhyN (Grid Physics Network) collaboration, a team of physicists and computer scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is on the hunt for the Higgs boson.

This yet-undiscovered subatomic particle may well answer a few of the most vexing questions in high-energy physics: Is the current Standard Model of particle physics correct at extremely high energies? Is unification of nature's forces and matter even possible? Are proposed unification theories—like string theory in which the resonance of one-dimensional 10³⁵ meter loops of energy is responsible for all the physical properties of the universe—on the right track?

"Although our bias is to believe that it's unlikely, the right theory—the one chosen by Nature, in our universe—might not be any one of those that has been thought of so far. Finding the Higgs would take us a long way toward finding out what the right theory is and whether or not nature is unified," says Harvey Newman, the physics professor who heads the Caltech team.


		Simulation of a Higgs boson as it decays into four muons. The lines denote particles produced from the collision of a pair of ultra-high energy protons. Energy deposits of the particles in the detector are shown in blue. Image courtesy of CERN.

Using the Alliance's flock of Condor workstations at the University of Wisconsin, the team is simulating the physics in which the Higgs boson and other significant and elusive subatomic particles may hide.