They regularly drop in on Mr Gold, who quizzes them closely, his wild greying locks and well-stuffed shirt pocket giving him the air of a rumpled physics professor expounding an exotic retail calculus.

ECONOMIST: Face value

While particle-physics colliders and space-based observatories could rule out some of the more exotic versions of each, no one has been able to suggest a way to decide between them in general.

ECONOMIST: A new ��theory of everything�� is gaining ground

The simplest form - that which fits neatly into the existing Standard Model of particle physics - would surely shore up the theory, but the possible existence of more "exotic" versions of the particle would open exciting new vistas in science.

BBC: LHC cements Higgs boson identification