God particle: Significant contribution by India's SINP scientists

The Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) said in Kolkata on Wednesday that its scientists had made significant contributions to the development of the CMS experiments at Geneva-based CERN.

"This led to the observation of the new particle at 125.3 GeV, consistent with a Higgs Boson as predicted by the Standard Model of Particle Physics, announced just now," SINP director Milan Sanyal told PTI in Kolkata.

Stating that it was a historical moment in physics and SINP took pride in being a part of the history, he said, "It will require more data and intense scrutiny to establish these findings beyond any doubt.

"This is an important moment for the development of science and I am very happy that our institute, this city and our country is part of the science revolution," Sanyal said.

He said that the core CMS team of the SINP had five faculty members —group leader Prof Sunanda Banerjee, Prof Satyaki Bhattacharya, Prof Suchandra Datta, Prof Subir Sarkar and Prof Manoj Saran.

Most of the team members, he said, had worked for more than a decade with the CMS experiment with notable contributions in the development of the experiment right from the early stage and were actively participating in the analysis of the incoming data.

He said that the SINP was committed to contribute in all areas of the future development and in participating in the exciting physics programme of the CMS experiment in the years ahead.

Sanyal said that the SINP had joined in the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider facility through a memorandum of understanding with CERN signed here during the last visit of the CERN Director-General.

"Our institute has significantly expanded its collaborative research activities at CERN since then, particularly in three experimental areas, like ALICE, CMS abnd ISOLDE," he said.

SINP is the oldest institute in the area of nuclear physics in India.