Doubt has been cast over whether the Higgs particle was actually discovered. Last year, CERN announced the finding of the Higgs particle, a new elementary particle. However, it is now unclear as to whether it was actually the Higgs particle.

Several calculations suggest that the particle discovered in the CERN particle accelerator was in fact the famous Higgs particle. Physicists agree that the CERN experiments did find a previously unseen particle. According to an international research team, however, there is no conclusive evidence to indicate that the particle was indeed the Higgs particle.

The research team has analyzed existing data from CERN regarding the new particle, and published their analysis in the journal Physical Review D.

Team member  Mads Toudal Frandsen, associate professor at the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics Phenomenology, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy at the University of Southern Denmark, said in a statement, “The CERN data is generally taken as evidence that the particle is the Higgs particle. It is true that the Higgs particle can explain the data but there can be other explanations, we would also get this data from other particles.”

Frandsen added, “The current data is not precise enough to determine exactly what the particle is. It could be a number of other known particles.”

Researchers’ analysis does not indicate that it is impossible that CERN has discovered the Higgs particle, but notes that it could be a different kind of particle. Frandsen explains, “We believe that it may be a so-called techni-higgs particle. This particle is in some ways similar to the Higgs particle – hence half of the name.”

According to the CERN website, the instruments used at CERN are purpose-built particle accelerators and detectors. Accelerators boost beams of particles to high energies before the beams are made to collide with each other or with stationary targets. Detectors observe and record the results of these collisions.