Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparrow
Isn't the Higgs Boson a hypothesis awaiting verification?
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The point is that verification never stops. To back up a little, Quantum Mechanics had several hypotheses being explored in the 1920's. All of them grew out of experimental results that had already been repeated at some expense, and different mathematical models developed, first from classical dynamics, then finally from a combination of dynamical and statistical methods.
By the 1950's, the Schrodinger equation was the clear winner, and the field fairly exploded with successful mathematical predictions of ever smaller sub-atomic structures followed by expansions of that model. Some of these researchers said that this period was even boring with the onslaught of successful verifications of so many chemical and electrical details.
Higgs Boson investigation follows another generation of this kind of research. So many universities and governments have piled so many resources there because the whole world of subatomic physicists has already 'verified' for decades agreement of evidence with mathematics down to a level that requires immense power and precision to go beyond. Higgs Boson can't be verified or rejected without this effort.
Everyone in that community knows that the existence or non-existence of Higgs Boson depends on a future result. There are sides to the debate, and these are inferences based on 'verified', meaning repeated, evidence, but no one is claiming more knowledge than they have.
Richard