Jon Butterworth - Most Wanted Particle: The Inside Story of the Hunt for the Higgs, the Heart of the Future of Physics

JON BUTTERWORTH is one of the leading physicists at the Large Hadron Collider and is Head of Physics and Astronomy at University College London. He writes the popular Life & Physics blog for the Guardian and has written articles for a range of publications including the Guardian and New Scientist. He was awarded the Chadwick Medal of the Institute of Physics in 2013 for his pioneering work in high energy particle physics, especially in the understanding of hadronic jets. For the last 13 years, he has divided his time between London and Geneva, Switzerland.

PRAISE FOR

MOST WANTED PARTICLE

An Observer Top Ten Science and Technology book

Most of the existing popular accounts of the events leading up to the July 2012 discovery claim at CERN are written from a theoretical perspective by outsiders. Jon Butterworth is an experimentalist and is the first to give a vivid account of what the process of discovery was really like for an insider.

Peter Higgs, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics

The story of the search for the Higgs boson is so edge-of-your-seat exciting that it practically tells itselfbut still, why not get the story from someone who was there for every step along the way? Jon Butterworth is a talented writer and a world expert in the physics, and his book is hard to put down.

Sean Carroll, physicist at Caltech and author of The Particle at the End of the Universe

This is a unique book, which captures the highs and lows of the last 20 years of particle physics, culminating with the discovery of the Higgs Boson. Ive known Jon for most of my careerhes an insightful, creative, diplomatic and occasionally outspoken physicist, and every facet of his character is on display in this beautifully written book. If you want to know what being a professional scientist is really like, read it!

Brian Cox, author of Why Does E=mc2? and The Quantum Universe

If you met Jon Butterworth in a pubwhich, judging from the many anecdotes in Most Wanted Particle, is a non-trivial probabilityhis is the voice youd like to hear, this is the tale youd want him to tell: a breezy recounting of the discovery of the Higgs boson that turns out to be both an accessible primer on particle physics and a lively look at behind-the-scenes Big Science.

Richard Panek, author of The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

[A] charming, enlightening bulletin from one of the most exciting fields of human endeavor.

Guardian

The book contains a fascinating inside perspective of the discovery of the Higgs boson. It offers an insight into the intense, bewildering and intimidating media scrutiny that physicists arent used to, combined with intimate details about the life of a high-powered physicist and some lovely explanations of the physics behind the discovery.

New Scientist

This is more than just another telling of the story of the hunt for the Higgs at the LHCthe reader here is utterly immersed in the politics, excitement and sheer intellectual adventure of discovery... from someone who was actually there! The process of scientific research is laid bare in all its glory, warts and all, and emerges as a delightful example of what is best about human intellectual endeavor.

Jim Al-Khalili, author of Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed

Like The Lord of the Rings, Most Wanted Particle takes readers on a long path with many moments of peril and uncertainty to reach the triumphant discovery of the Higgs Boson. It is a great chronicle of a part of the endless chain of progress in science at the LHC.

Jim Gates, University System of Maryland Regents Professor of Physics

A smashing journey.

Physics World

An excellent, accessible guide to one of sciences greatest discoveries... vivid insights into the doing of science, including the customs of various scientific tribes at CERN.

Sunday Times

The mix of technical description, anecdote and humour works brilliantly and feels completely fresh in my experience of science writingit really unlocks the holy grail of combining entertainment and understanding.

PFILM

Riveting! Gonzo journalism but in the entrails of experimental particle physics.

Pedro G. Ferreira, author of The Perfect Theory

A great read if youre curious about the Higgs boson, the work done at the LHC, what its like to be a physicist or how life as a research scientist has to dovetail with the real world in terms of politics, economics and justifying to the public why science is important and should be funded. If youre remotely curious about the universe, read this.

Steven Thompson of Physics Steve, a theoretical physics blog

MOST WANTED PARTICLE: The Inside Story of the Hunt for the Higgs, the Heart of the Future of Physics

Copyright Jon Butterworth 2014
Foreword Lisa Randall 2014

First published in the UK as Smashing Physics by Headline Publishing Group, 2014

All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or online reviews, no portion of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Butterworth, Jon. [Smashing physics]
Most wanted particle : the inside story of the hunt for the Higgs, the heart of the future of physics / Jon Butterworth.
pages cm
First published in Great Britain in 2014 as Smashing physics, by Headline Publishing Group. Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-61519-245-8 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-1-61519-246-5 (ebook)
1. Butterworth, Jon--Career in physics. 2. European Organization for Nuclear Research. 3. Large Hadron Collider (France and Switzerland) 4. Higgs bosons. I. Title.
QC16.B88A3 2015
539.7092--dc23
[B]
2014036045

ISBN 978-1-61519-245-8
Ebook ISBN 978-1-61519-246-5

Jacket design by Catherine Casalino
Cover graphic depicting ATLAS experiment particle collisions courtesy of CERN
Author photograph Claudia Marcelloni 2014
Typeset in Berkeley by Avon DataSet Ltd., Bidford-on-Avon, Warwickshire

Manufactured in the United States of America
Distributed by Workman Publishing Company, Inc.
Distributed simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Ltd.

First printing January 2015
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Susanna, Leon, Felix and Edie

by Lisa Randall

Chapter 1.

Chapter 2.

Chapter 3.