Twenty-five years ago, scientists on the CDF and DZero particle physics experiments at Fermilab announced one of history’s biggest breakthroughs in particle physics: the discovery of the long-sought top quark. The collaborations on the two experiments jointly made the announcement on March 2, 1995, to much fanfare. We take a look back on this day in Fermilab history a quarter-century ago.
From CERN, Oct. 7, 2019: The CMS collaboration has measured for the first time the variation, or “running,” of the top quark mass. The theory of quantum chromodynamics predicts this energy-scale variation for the masses of all quarks and for the strong force acting between them. Observing the running masses of quarks can therefore provide a way of testing quantum chromodynamics and the Standard Model.
On July 15 in Ghent, Belgium, the European Physical Society formally presented the CDF and DZero collaborations with the High Energy and Particle Physics Prize “for the discovery of the top quark and the detailed measurement of its properties.”
From Duke Today, July 17, 2019: Teams behind the 1995 discovery are recognized for first observations of tiny but hefty particle at the heart of matter.
The CDF and DZero collaborations at Fermilab announced the discovery of the top quark in 1995, the final undiscovered quark of the six predicted by theory. The biannual prize is given for an outstanding contribution to high-energy and particle physics.
From Live Science, Feb. 5, 2019: This article dives deep into the little teensy tiny particles that are fundamental building blocks of matter. As far as scientists can tell, quarks themselves are not made of anything smaller. That may change in the future as we learn more, but it’s good enough for now.
From Listverse, Feb. 5, 2019: This listicle mentions Fermilab scientist Melissa Franklin as part of the Fermilab team that discovered the top quark.
From Scientific American, June 6, 2018: Fermilab’s Don Lincoln explains the significance of scientists’ first observation of the famous Higgs boson, responsible for imparting mass, interacting with the heaviest particle in the universe.
From UPI, June 4, 2018: Fermilab Deputy Director Joe Lykken says that “deeply understanding how the Higgs interacts with known particles could help lead us to physics beyond the Standard Model.”
From Live Science, June 4, 2018: Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln writes about two new results on how scientists found the Higgs boson popping up along with the heaviest particle ever discovered. The results could help us better understand one of the most fundamental problems in physics — why matter has mass.