CMS achieved evidence of this decay with 3 sigma, which means that the chance of seeing the Higgs boson decaying into a muon pair from statistical fluctuation is less than one in 700. ATLAS’s two-sigma result means the chances are one in 40. The combination of both results would increase the significance well above 3 sigma and provides strong evidence for the Higgs boson decay to two muons.

“CMS 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. 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,” said Roberto Carlin, spokesperson for the CMS experiment.

The global TFR in the reference scenario was forecasted to be 1·66 (95% UI 1·33–2·08) in 2100. In the reference scenario, the global population was projected to peak in 2064 at 9·73 billion (8·84–10·9) people and decline to 8·79 billion (6·83–11·8) in 2100. The reference projections for the five largest countries in 2100 were India (1·09 billion [0·72–1·71], Nigeria (791 million [594–1056]), China (732 million [456–1499]), the USA (336 million [248–456]), and Pakistan (248 million [151–427]).

Comets are "icy dirtballs" and their tails are made of dust, gas and plasma (ionized gas). As comets approach the Sun on their highly elliptical orbits, heat from sunlight causes the ice to turn into gas (sublime) which d---s material (generically called "dust") from the surfaces of the comet as it escapes. As sunlight reflects off of tiny particles of dust, they get a kick of momentum and drift away from the Sun. Heavier bits of dust are harder to push and drift more slowly. These forces affect the shape of the dust tail, very similar to the appearance of the comet to the n---d eye, shown on the left.

"Atomic sodium responds to sunlight in a similar way to cometary dust, but its momentum kick comes from a very particular wavelength of yellow light – the same color seen in sodium vapor street lamps," Morgenthaler said.

This light is then re-emitted in a random direction, which allows us to see it here on Earth. “Thanks to acceleration by intense sunlight, the sodium tail takes on a different shape than the tail seen in off-band filtered images, which are dominated by reflected light from dust. In comparison, the sodium tail is narrower, longer and points directly away from the Sun,” Schmidt said.

Since the push on sodium atoms is stronger than on the dust and other gas that comes off of comets, it provides a different perspective on conditions close to the comet's surface. “Sodium tails have only been observed in very bright comets, such as Hale-Bopp and the sungrazer ISON," Morgenthaler said. While the element has been found in spectra of comets near the Sun, images of the emission are relatively rare, since the glare of the Sun makes this a challenging