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Higgs boson research. 3D computer graphic showing one of the numerous particle collision events recorded during the search for the Higgs boson. This event (a proton-proton collision) was recorded with the ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC Apparatus) detector on 18 May 2012. The collision produced two electron pairs. The tracks and clusters of the two electron pairs are coloured red and blue, respectively. This is part of the enormous amount of data collected to enable confirmation of the theories being tested. In the Standard Model, the Higgs boson is used to explain why particles have mass. CERN (the European particle physics laboratory) announced the Higgs boson discovery on 4 July 2012. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/ATLAS COLLABORATION/CERN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY)