Click pic to hear what Higgs Boson sounds like

[Oops. Sorry. We’re told the photo is of the non-sub-atomic Mr. Higgs Boson of Ipswich, Suffolk, UK. –ed.]

Researchers have simulated the sound of the Higgs Boson and other sub-atomic collisions in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Their aim is to develop a means for physicists at Cern to listen to the data generated by the LHC and pick out the Higgs particle if and when they finally detect it.

One of the key particles researchers are searching for is the Higgs Boson.

It is this particle that is thought to give sub-atomic particles mass, which is why it has been described as the “God particle”.

These three sounds represent different properties of the Higgs known as its “harmonic signatures” – if the particle exists at all.




  1. Dallas says:

    I am NOT clicking on that picture. I’m sure the it sounds great.

  2. Animby says:

    Admit it, Dallas. You won’t click on it because you’ve read they call the Higgs Bosun the “God” particle. And you’re just plain afraid to hear the real voice of god.

  3. admfubar says:

    weird, it sounds like the plants that sang in the original start trek pilot… gene rodenberry was way ahead of his time…

  4. Gary, the dangerous infidel says:

    If Higgs Boson gives subatomic particles mass, does this mean that the building blocks of the universe are Catholic? Maybe the Higgs Boson isn’t really the “God particle” after all, but just the “Pope particle,” or even just a lowly “Priest Particle.”

    Hide your children from the Hadron Collider!

  5. Buzz says:

    This is what they have simulated. But it’s a publicity stunt.

    What it really sounds like is this:

    Fa! (with a hint of mid-Atlantic accent)

    Add a little reverb and it sounds more like “Fuh” or other similar single syllable expressions, as in “what the fuh”.

  6. Luc says:

    @5 soundwash,

    You just can’t make that shit up.

  7. hhopper says:

    All I get is:

    This content doesn’t seem to be working. Try again later.

  8. Somebody_Else says:

    How can you simulate the sound of something if you don’t even know if (and how) it really exists?

    The LHC guys sure spend a lot of time and money on publicity…

  9. bobbo, ultimate reality is a mystery says:

    Mass? When I think of the infinitely small point in space that expanded into everything, and that mass and energy are but different forms of the same thing, and the physical world seems to be breaking down into smaller and smaller units, I began to think that mass was an illusion with energy being all. But thats only because I don’t understand either one.

    amusing.

  10. bobbo, ultimate reality is a mystery says:

    Soundwash–I’ve watched you post for a year now saying everything was electricity. Now its waves? Now, I know that if everything is “one thing” then any other “one thing” is actually still that one thing. So, ok, waves/vibrations are electricity.

    Can you do us all a favor and select a consistent terminology?

    Good job, btw. If you could only provide a more detailed explanation.

  11. Richard says:

    And I was thinking it would be more like “BOOM!” In a world cataclysmic sort of way.

  12. bobbo, still working on special relativity says:

    I enjoy reading about “the gap between human experience and the quantum world” especially when Darwin provides the way? And once again, with a dose of electricity.

    Yea, fun to read stuff that doesn’t make any sense. And if I actually did comprehend it, would it lead to a deeper understanding of reality-or rather the understanding that our understanding of the mystery of the universe is by analogy only?

    Ha, ha. I’m a sheeple. Where is the green grass?

  13. Uncle Patso says:

    # 5 soundwash:

    Anyone remember what some of the first words in the “Good Book” of *metaphors* are?

    “god is the word” or “the word is god” -something like that.

    I believe the quote from the Gospel of John (going from memory here) is
    “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was god.”
    (“In principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum.”)

    Soundwash, none of your picture links worked for me; all I got was a page that said:
    “Directory has no index file.
    Browsing this site or directory without an index file is prohibited.”

    As for the Higgs, as far as I can determine, the theory goes that things were energetic enough shortly after the Big Bang to generate Higgs particles, and they filled space with the Higgs field and other particles interact with this field and thus gain mass. My question is, if they manage to make some more Higgs particles, won’t that reinforce the field? Will matter then have more mass?

    Bobbo, that Science Daily article was weird! I mean, I get that the quantum world is weird; I can accept uncertainty, indeterminacy, superposition of states, probability waves, entangled particles, even “spooky action at a distance,” but “scarred wave functions?” That’s going to take some getting used to…

    My brain itches!

  14. Uncle Dave says:

    I converted Soundwash’s links to actual clickable links in the text and they seem to work now.

  15. bobbo, still working on special relativity says:

    Unc Dave: is it really “nice” to encourage people to wade thru Soundwash’s website?

    If so, the recasted links still don’t work for me. Firefox 3.6.6

  16. hhopper says:

    I still get the same thing:

    Directory has no index file.
    Browsing this site or directory without an index file is prohibited.

    If you are the site’s webmaster, you can remedy this problem by creating a default HTML page with one of the following names:

    * index.html
    * index.htm
    * default.htm
    * Default.htm
    * home.html
    * Home.chtml

    NOTE: Filenames are case sensitive, i.e., Home.html is not the same as home.html

  17. soundwash says:

    sorry people…been away & busy the past day or two..apparently my host provider has made some security changes that put a lot of settings back to they’re default status..including my hot-linking / redirect rules.

    i’ll be going through the site in about an hour or to effect changes. -seems to have effected a lot, but not all of my open directories/links. (pain in the arse)

    In the mean time..right clicking the links above and pasting directly into the address bar *does* show the images.

    (*thank you Uncle Dave for cleaning up the links)

    -bobbo, et al, with luck, i’ll reply to your comments tonight as well, -if not tomorrow.

    (gotta find my html thumbnail generation prgm too)

    -s

  18. soundwash says:

    SOB-@#!!%$@

    -not even direct editing of the htacess files is taking..

    waiting on a ticket ::tapping foot::

    -s


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