Higgs boson discovery marks new start in probing the unknown
A new subatomic particle believed to be the "Higgs boson," hunted for more than 40 years by particle physicists around world, has been discovered at long last.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, on the Swiss-French border near Geneva, announced the discovery on Wednesday. This can definitely be called a glorious accomplishment that will go down in history.
In the smallest fractions of a second after the birth of the universe, the Higgs boson was responsible for the existence of mass, commonly thought of as weight, in all matter, according to the "Standard Model" of physics. Since it is the origin of mass in the universe, the Higgs boson is also known as the "God particle."
How did the universe come into being? How was substance brought into existence? How did galaxies form and the stars ignite? How did life first begin to stir?
The new discovery marks a milestone in the grand quest to understand the ultimate origins of humanity.
According to the Standard Model, every substance consists of 17 kinds of ultramicroscopic particles that cannot be divided into any smaller units.
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Final building block
Of such particles, electrons were first discovered in 1897, while the existence of a total of 16 particles--every subatomic particle except the Higgs boson--had been confirmed by 2000.
The discovery of the Higgs boson means the final building block necessary to explain the development of the universe from its birth 13.7 billion years ago right up to the present moment has been identified.
This achievement has been made using CERN's circular 27-kilometer underground proton accelerator. The accelerator is a gigantic facility built at a cost of 550 billion yen. It can make protons, a kind of microparticle, collide with each other in a vacuum at nearly the speed of light for a high-energy collision.
CERN researchers repeated such collisions 1.1 quadrillion times, analyzing in detail the fragments produced by the impacts. These include the new Higgs particle, which they have identified with 99.99998 percent certainty, the announcement said.
From Japan, 110 researchers from universities and other research organizations, including the University of Tokyo, have taken part in the CERN program, playing significant roles in such activities as data analysis.
It was a theory formulated by Yoichiro Nambu, a Japanese-born professor emeritus at the University of Chicago and a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics, that provided the foundation for the prediction of the existence of the Higgs boson.
We feel proud of Japan's contribution.
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Trust in science
The pursuit of mysteries of the universe is certain to go on. Experiments with the newly found subatomic particle will lead to the detailed elucidation of its properties. It may even be possible to crack open a new realm of cosmic theory. Physicists have great expectations.
This is because current theory can account for about only 4 percent of the energy that lets matter, and the universe itself, exist. We hope to see Japanese researchers aggressively striving to make further discoveries to help shape our understanding of the universe.
After the Great East Japan Earthquake and the subsequent nuclear power plant accident last year, an increasing number of people in this country are becoming distrustful of or anxious about science and technology.
A survey by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has shown that as many as four out of every 10 people think humans "cannot take control" of outcomes of science and technology. This is double the figure from before the March 11, 2011, disaster.
It is strongly hoped that a breakthrough such as the discovery of the Higgs boson will help resuscitate people's dreams about the future of science.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 7, 2012)
(Jul. 8, 2012)
Repair old roads and bridges instead of extending Shinkansen lines
Expanding the nation's Shinkansen network is hardly a high-priority public works project, considering its high need for financial resources and its modest prospects of profitability. Giving it the green light was apparently a hasty decision. We question it.
Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Yuichiro Hata has approved the construction of three stretches of bullet train lines, projects that had been virtually frozen by the Democratic Party of Japan since it took the reins of government in 2009.
The stretches will link Sapporo with Shin-Hakodate on the Hokkaido Line, Kanazawa with Tsuruga on the Hokuriku Line and Isahaya with Nagasaki on the Kyushu Line. The stretches are parts of construction projects for which planning dates back to 1973.
Late last year, the government and the DPJ suddenly changed their minds and decided to launch the construction of the three stretches. Hata decided to approve the construction after receiving a go-ahead from a transport ministry panel that assessed the cost-effectiveness of the construction projects.
Local governments and businesspeople around the three stretches hope the bullet trains will be a catalyst to rejuvenate local communities and their economies. However, it is not certain whether the construction would really lead to a rosy future.
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Cost-effectiveness questioned
About 70 percent of the projects' expenses, which are estimated to be about 3 trillion yen, will be shouldered by the central and local governments.
The transport ministry has decided to extend the construction period of the three stretches to minimize annual expenses. "We had to consider maintaining fiscal discipline, so we decided to take time in constructing the three sections," Hata said.
As a result, the opening of the three sections will be delayed significantly. It will take 10 years for the Kyushu Line section to open, 14 years for the Hokuriku Line section and 24 years for the Hokkaido Line section.
By a back-of-the-envelope calculation, that means the central and local governments will have to pay about 100 billion yen annually for more than two decades of construction.
If the construction periods are prolonged, there is no guarantee that the expenses will stay within the budget. Recall the bitter experience of construction expenses for the Nagano Line's section connecting Takasaki and Nagano ballooning to about 140 percent of the initial budget.
For local governments, deciding what to do with railway lines that run parallel to Shinkansen lines will also be difficult. The operation of such railway lines will be entrusted to entities such as "third sector" companies--business ventures jointly financed by the public and private sectors. However, it will be difficult for such companies to make a profit, so it is likely they will have to raise fares in the future.
In the first place, the government's outlook on the three sections' balance of payments after the opening is overly optimistic. The government has estimated that the number of people who travel on the three sections will increase as travel time decreases due to the introduction of bullet trains. However, the overall benefit of the projects is expected to outweigh expenses only slightly.
Budget airlines have begun entering the nation's aviation market recently, connecting the Tokyo metropolitan area and the Kansai region with Sapporo, Fukuoka and other local cities at extremely low prices. The government did not take into account the impact of such budget carriers on the new Shinkansen sections, and the likely intensification of competition in the near future.
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Repairing roads more urgent
The DPJ-led government has continuously made pledges to cut budgets for public works projects, but failed to set a clear standard on how to sort out necessary projects and to differentiate the money allotted to each project. This is the underlying problem of this issue.
The most important thing for the government to do is efficiently allocate the limited budget to necessary projects. It is totally opposite to this principle to accelerate the construction of Shinkansen lines, which involves lavish public spending on certain local cities and villages.
A more urgent task facing the central government is rather to maintain, repair and upgrade roads and other infrastructure built during the period of high economic growth. Such costs are estimated to be about 190 trillion yen over the next 50 years. If the government lets old bridges and roads decay without taking necessary measures, they could break down in the future and disrupt the daily lives of the people.
This is exactly why the government should have the courage not to start new projects that are neither necessary nor urgent.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 7, 2012)
(Jul. 8, 2012)
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