The Hunt for the God Particle

How Physicists Search for the Higgs



1. Protons are stripped from hydrogen atoms, then pick up speed as they are fed into the
main injector.

2. Some protons are diverted into the target hall, where they are shot into a barrel of nickel metal.
A tiny percentage of the resulting debris consists of antiprotons, which are filtered out.

3. The antiprotons are sent into the main injector, circulating in the direction opposite to that of the protons. Both pick up speed.

4. Protons and antiprotons enter the Tevatron.

5. Superconducting magnets in the Tevatron accelerate the protons and antiprotons to full speed, then focus them toward the collision point inside one of the detectors.

6. The detectors take a snapshot of the new particles that are created by the collision (see inset). That data is fed to banks of computers, which sift through trillions of collisions to find the Higgs.