Higgs-Boson Particle
by Owen Borville
July 18, 2024
Physics
Everything in the universe is made of particles. However, when the universe began, no particles had mass and everything moved at the speed of light.
Stars, planets, and life could be created only because particles gained mass from a fundamental field associated with the Higgs-Boson particle.
The existence of this mass-giving field was confirmed in 2012, when the Higgs-Boson particle was discovered at CERN.
The Higgs Boson particle (informally called the God particle because of its fundamental importance to modern physics) is the fundamental particle associated with the Higgs field, a field that gives mass to other fundamental particles such as electrons and quarks.
A particle’s mass determines how much it resists changing its speed or position when it encounters a force. Not all fundamental particles have mass. The photon, which is the particle of light and carries the electromagnetic force, has no mass at all.
The Higgs Boson was proposed in 1964 by Peter Higgs, François Englert, and four other physicists to explain why certain particles have mass.
Scientists confirmed its existence in 2012 through the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Switzerland.
This discovery led to the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics being awarded to Higgs and Englert.
Scientists are now studying the characteristic properties of the Higgs Boson to determine if it precisely matches the predictions of the Standard Model of particle physics.
If the Higgs Boson deviates from the model, it may provide clues to new particles that only interact with other Standard Model particles through the Higgs boson and thereby lead to new scientific discoveries.
The Higgs-Boson particle gets its mass just like other particles: from its own interactions with the Higgs field.
Mass: 125 billion electron volts (130 times more massive than a proton), according to CERN.
The Higgs-Boson particle is chargeless, and has zero-spin, and is the only elementary particle with no spin.
There may be more than one Higgs-Boson particle, and one theoretical model of new physics predicts five Higgs bosons.
Fundamental particles in our universe acquire mass through their interactions with the Higgs field.
The Higgs Boson can be a unique portal to finding signs of dark matter due to its own distinctive characteristics and properties.
DOE, CERN
by Owen Borville
July 18, 2024
Physics
Everything in the universe is made of particles. However, when the universe began, no particles had mass and everything moved at the speed of light.
Stars, planets, and life could be created only because particles gained mass from a fundamental field associated with the Higgs-Boson particle.
The existence of this mass-giving field was confirmed in 2012, when the Higgs-Boson particle was discovered at CERN.
The Higgs Boson particle (informally called the God particle because of its fundamental importance to modern physics) is the fundamental particle associated with the Higgs field, a field that gives mass to other fundamental particles such as electrons and quarks.
A particle’s mass determines how much it resists changing its speed or position when it encounters a force. Not all fundamental particles have mass. The photon, which is the particle of light and carries the electromagnetic force, has no mass at all.
The Higgs Boson was proposed in 1964 by Peter Higgs, François Englert, and four other physicists to explain why certain particles have mass.
Scientists confirmed its existence in 2012 through the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Switzerland.
This discovery led to the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics being awarded to Higgs and Englert.
Scientists are now studying the characteristic properties of the Higgs Boson to determine if it precisely matches the predictions of the Standard Model of particle physics.
If the Higgs Boson deviates from the model, it may provide clues to new particles that only interact with other Standard Model particles through the Higgs boson and thereby lead to new scientific discoveries.
The Higgs-Boson particle gets its mass just like other particles: from its own interactions with the Higgs field.
Mass: 125 billion electron volts (130 times more massive than a proton), according to CERN.
The Higgs-Boson particle is chargeless, and has zero-spin, and is the only elementary particle with no spin.
There may be more than one Higgs-Boson particle, and one theoretical model of new physics predicts five Higgs bosons.
Fundamental particles in our universe acquire mass through their interactions with the Higgs field.
The Higgs Boson can be a unique portal to finding signs of dark matter due to its own distinctive characteristics and properties.
DOE, CERN