---
title: "CERN Says the Higgs Boson Did Something Unexpected"
description: "Physicists observed the Higgs boson decay into a pair of particles called muons. Find out how this further reinforces the Standard Model."
date: "2020-08-04"
modified: "2020-08-11"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/cern-higgs-boson-something-unexpected"
categories:
  - "Physics"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "cern"
  - "Higgs Boson"
  - "physics"
  - "the digest"
---

# CERN Says the Higgs Boson Did Something Unexpected

![For the first time, physicists observed the Higgs boson decay into a pair of particles called muons, further reinforcing the Standard Model.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cern-higgs-boson-something-unexpected.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Thomas Couley/CERN/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Breaking Up

Scientists at CERN just saw the Higgs boson do something odd — as it decayed, it appeared to break down into an unexpected combination of particles.

This is the first time that they saw the Higgs boson — the particle believed to [grant mass](<https://futurism.com/researchers-trained-a-quantum-computer-to-find-the-higgs-boson>) to other elementary particles ­— break down into a pair of muons, [according to research](<https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.07830>) shared this week at a high energy physics conference. The discovery further reinforces the Standard Model of physics, which has [long been challenged](<https://futurism.com/new-particles-breaking-point-standard-model>) by new particle discoveries.

## Playing God

One of the best ways for physicists to study the Higgs boson is to observe how it dies. Typically, they've seen it decay into comparatively-heavy particles, but muons are far lighter and interact less with the field given off by the Higgs boson.

"\[Our CERN team\] is proud to have achieved this sensitivity to the decay of Higgs bosons to muons, and to show the first experimental evidence for this process," CERN spokesperson Roberto Carlin [said in a press release](<https://phys.org/news/2020-08-cern-indications-rare-higgs-boson.html>).

## Next-Gen

Muons are second-generation particles. While atoms are made of first-generation particles like electrons, higher-generations only exist in high-energy environments — like a particle physics lab — and quickly decay. This is the first time scientists have seen the Higgs boson interact with any second-generation particles.

"The Higgs boson seems to interact also with second-generation particles in agreement with the prediction of the Standard Model, a result that will be further refined with the data we expect to collect in the next run," Carlin said.

**READ MORE:** [CERN experiments announce first indications of a rare Higgs boson process](<https://phys.org/news/2020-08-cern-indications-rare-higgs-boson.html>) \[CERN\]

**More on the Higgs boson:** *[CERN Scientist on What Physicists Have Left to Discover After Higgs Boson](<https://futurism.com/cern-scientist-on-life-after-the-higgs-boson>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)