Known formally as the Higgs boson, the particle is the theoretical missing link in the standard model of physics and is believed to be what gives objects mass, though scientists have never been able to pin it down.
The organisation, known as CERN, saids that at a July 4 Geneva conference it will "deliver the latest update in the search for the Higgs boson" it is carrying out with its atom-smasher, the Large Hadron Collider.
The theory behind the so-called God particle is that mass does not derive from particles themselves but instead comes from a boson that interacts strongly with some particles but less, if at all, with others.
"In December we said that there were hints in the data that there may be something there (but) not strong enough to say it's a discovery or not," CERN spokesman James Gillies told AFP by telephone.
"On July 4 we will be able to say whether either there is nothing in the data this year; or there are still hints in the data, but not strong enough for us to be able to say that it is a discovery; and possibly a discovery," he said. "Either of those three things is possible."
The seminar will precede a major physics conference in Melbourne, Australia, where progress in the search for the Higgs boson will be reported.
The Large Hadron Collider, sometimes called the world's largest machine, is located in a 27-kilometre (17-mile) ring-shaped tunnel near Geneva that straddles the Franco-Swiss border up to 175 metres (580 feet) below ground.
It fires streams of protons in opposite, but parallel, directions in the tunnel. The beams are then bent by powerful magnets so that some of the protons collide in four giant labs, which are lined with detectors to record the sub-atomic debris that results.
Data-taking for the Melbourne conference concluded on Monday, CERN's director for accelerators and technology, Steve Myers, said in a statement.
"I'm very much looking forward to seeing what the data reveals."
The agency's research and computing director, Sergio Bertolucci, added there was now twice as much data as last year.
"That should be enough to see whether the trends we were seeing in 2011 data are still there, or whether they've gone away. It is a very exciting time."
If and when a new particle is discovered, scientists will need time to ascertain that it is indeed the Higgs boson, or some other, unknown particle.
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@Mr S: Or the next mass destructive nuclear bomb...
The upside is that atleast this bomb will have no radiation after effects like uranium based nuclear bombs.. You can bomb a country out of existence and occupy it the next day..
there are 109 scientists working at or around CERN contributing in many ways. moreover there many firms in India who are supplying equipment for CERN.
I wait for the Higgs Boson. Meanwhile, like we have a atomic watch, I hope you have already something different from meter unit. meter is used between us. So, we need same unit like the atom dimension and a new name for a unit measurement that can be understand by all the universe inhabitants.
If its found then the next step will be to create such particles by the scientists. In other words we can produce mass from intense energy.
Although, I am going to be the worst affected after a CERN discovery of Higgs Boson, I sincerely feel that CERN should succeed in order to prove me wrong and let me go my way as an inventor trying to develop new technologies. If however CERN disproves Higgs Boson, I would be in a major quandary to devote the remaining years of my life to mastering this new field and to peddle my ideas in baryonic asymmetry, gravitation and cosmology; at 48 and after a long struggle after I left formal education, I really have started feeling tired after such a long and little-rewarding struggle.
I would like to emphasize again and again, that the hype behind a maverick particle is not going to end the search for Physicists. The nature and identity of space described a vacuum is the key to Physics achieving a complete theoretical base. The critical matter density in space is 3.63E minus 25 kgs /cum which is already there and that should be verified positively and all this brouhaha will stop then. Any accelerative stress will create waves the crest of which will gain a detectable mass momentarily and that by axiomatic calculation cannot exceed 140 GEV for a femtosec. The nature of the matter in space at critical density is a perpetual harmonic oscilltory state which at its maximum acceleration near stellar masses creates the hydrogen hadron / lepton combination in plenty. Particles are stresses in simultaneous or merging activity and Science must make a determined effort to simplify the cause of phenomena instead of prolonging an erroneous hypotheses with huge collateral damage. See web site http://s1.webstarts.com/Sankhyakarika/index.html for a rational and axiomatic presentation of physics in its complete form. It is complete.
On my recent visit to Europe I came to know about One Pakistani Scientist and infact there are many who are working with CERN and I hope ET will cover them as well as they are a pride for our nation as well. I think someone should write article about Sarah Alam Malik as well who is working in CERN. http://www.sarahalammalik.com/