'God particle' looking 'more and more' like Higgs: scientists

Physicists have announced that the subatomic particle discovered at CERN last year is looking more and more like the elusive 'God Particle' Higgs boson which could explain why matter has mass.

Scientists speaking at the Moriond conference in La Thuile, Italy, however, said yesterday that more analysis is still required before a definitive statement can be made.

The key to a positive identification of the particle is a detailed analysis of its properties and the way that it interacts with other particles, European Organisation for

Nuclear Research (CERN) said in a statement.

Since the announcement last July, much more data has been analysed, and these properties are becoming clearer.

"The key property that will allow us to say whether or not it is a Higgs particle is called spin," scientists said.

"If this particle has spin-zero, then it is a Higgs particle. If not, then it is something different, possibly linked to the way gravity works," they said.

Scientists said all the analysis conducted so far strongly indicates spin-zero, but is not yet able to rule out entirely the possibility that the particle has spin-two.

"Until we can confidently tie down the particle's spin, the particle will remain Higgs-like. Only when we know that is has spin-zero will we be able to call it a Higgs," said CERN Research Director Sergio Bertolucci.

Even then, the work will be far from over, researchers said.

If the new particle is a Higgs, it could be the Higgs as predicted in

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