Scientists At Cern 'Glimpse God Particle'

Scientists are set to confirm they have caught a glimpse of the elusive 'God particle' - the so far theoretical concept that helps to explain some of the mysteries of the Universe.

The Cern physics research centre in Switzerland is expected to reveal that experiments in the Large Hadron Collider have produced signals that provide the clearest evidence yet that the sub-atomic particle exists.

"I am feeling quite a level of excitement," said Oliver Buchmueller, one of the senior scientists seeking the particle.

The Higgs particle, or boson, is a key missing piece in the most widely accepted theory of physics - called the Standard Model - which describes how particles and forces interact.

For more than a year scientists at Cern have been firing particles in opposite directions around a 27km long ring-shaped tunnel 100m below ground.

When the particles have acclerated to almost the speed of light they are encouraged to collide. Sensitive detectors are then used to examine the debris for new particles.

There is still a possibility that the findings are down to chance disturbances, rather than a real observation. Further tests are planned.

"We are moving very close to a conclusion in the first few months of next year," said Dr Buchmueller.

The £6bn experiment is an attempt to replicate the conditions shortly after the Universe was created 13.7 billion years ago in the Big Bang.

The Standard Model of physics predicts that sub-atomic particles should have no mass.

But according to the theory proposed by some scientists, an invisible Higgs force field and an associated boson were created soon after the Big Bang.

These create a drag on other particles, giving them mass.

If the Cern experiments confirm the Higgs boson exists it would fix the biggest hole in the Standard Model - and give credence to what has been a largely mathematical model of how the Universe works.

But if they showed it does not exist it would shake the foundations of modern physics and force a massive rethink on the forces that glue the Universe together.