--------- ----------------- 1495 - The Higgs Particle
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- December 9, 2006 Fermilab’s particle accelerator physicists may have detected the Higgs particle. The Higgs Boson is the particle expected to give every other fundamental particle its mass. They saw the particle at 160 GeV ( 160,000,000,000 electron volts, 6^10^11 eV, ), which is close to the theoretical mass of the Higgs.
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- When you got up this morning and hopped on the bathroom scales hoping that you had lost weight the number you get is determined by your mass, the mass and radius of Earth and the force of gravity. The last three probably did not change. So, your weight is determined by your mass, but what determines your mass, besides dieting? Physicists have been pursuing that question for hundreds of years.
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- We know mass as inertia that resists a force trying to accelerate it. The Higgs Boson may be the particle that causes that resistance. Bosons are photons, W-Z bosons, Gluons and now Higgs Bosons. Photons carry the electromagnetic force and have no mass. W-Z bosons carry the nuclear Weak Force but they have a huge mass. The theoretical Higgs Boson would explain the difference between these two forces. Its discovery could unleash an explanation for mass and inertia. It could be one of the fundamental building blocks of nature.
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- Particle accelerators have verified the existence of 12 fundamental particles of matter and 3 fundamental particles of force carriers, but the Higgs has not been found to date. The Higgs is a quantum particle of the Higgs Field that permeates empty space, just as the photon is a quantum particle that permeates an Electric Field. The Higgs Field has a value of 246 GeV. It is a scalar field giving the Higgs Boson a spin of zero, no intrinsic angular momentum. It permeates all of empty space and carries the force that gives the other particles their mass. Theories predict the mass of the Higgs to be between 130 - 190 GeV. This particle discovered at 160 GeV is a good candidate.
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- Particle accelerators need tremendous energies to detect these high mass particles. Why are such high energies necessary. It is because E = h*f, E = h*c/w. “h” is Planck’s Constant. “c” is speed of light. “f“ is frequency. “w” is the wavelength.
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The Energy = 6.6 * 10^-34 kg*m^2/sec * 3*10^8 m/sec / wavelength.
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E = 2*10^-25 / wavelength
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- Wavelength is inversely proportional to Energy. In order to “see” with shorter wavelengths we need to use higher and higher energies.
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The particle accelerator is a type of microscope. Like the electron microscope can see smaller objects than the photon microscope. Larger energies correspond to smaller distances. (See footnote (2) to learn how mass is shown in electron volts.)
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-------------- Energy, or Mass ------------ Length
------------------ --------
---------------- 10^28 eV ------------------ --------------------- Planck scale mass
------------------------------ ------------------ 10^-35 meters - Planck scale length
---------------- 10^27 eV ------------------
---------------- 10^25 eV ------------------ 10^-33 - Three Forces come together
---------------- 10^24 eV ------------------
-------------------------- ---------------------- 10^-30 meters
---------------- 10^21 eV ------------------
---------------------------- -------------------- 10^-27meters
---------------- 10^18 eV ------------------
-------------------------- ----------------------- 10^-24 meters
---------------- 10^15 eV ------------------
--------------------------- ------------------ --- 10^-21 meters - Energy to find the Higgs
---------------- 10^12 eV ----------------------------------- Weak Force scale
------------------------------ ------------------ 10^-18 meters
---------------- 10^9 eV -------------------------------------- proton mass
------------------------------------------------- 10^-15 meters
---------------- 10^6 eV ------------------------------------ electron mass
------------------------------------------------- 10^-12 meters -
---------------- 1,000 eV ---------------- --- 10^-10 meters - size of atom
---------------------------------------------- --- 10^-9 meters
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- Note that larger energies correspond to smaller distances. The large Planck Scale Energy 10^28 electron volts means that the force of gravity is weak. The Weak Force Scale Energy is 10^12 electron volts and it operates over a distance of 10^-18 meters. It is a mystery to physicists why the Planck scale is 16 orders of magnitude more massive than the Weak scale (10^28 vs. 10^12 = 10^16). The Standard Model predicts that if the mass of the W-Boson is between 80.2 and 80.4 GeV. And, the mass of the Top Quark is between 160 and 185 GeV. Then, the Higgs Boson is between 114 and 400 GeV. But, experiments are giving differing results. So, is the Standard Model correct, or incomplete?
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- One of the theories, called Super symmetry, predicts that there are five Higgs Bosons of different masses. However, the Standard Model predicts only a single Higgs. In order to discover which theory is true we need more powerful accelerators. A speed of light collision between protons and anti-protons would create Higgs particles that would decay into 2 Tau Leptons in a fraction of a second. Then the Tau’s would decay into other particles. Physicists are busy studying these collisions and the particle debris they create in search of the illusive Higgs. Its discovery will be a great day in physics.
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-An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned
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(1) Originally #735
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(2) The mass of a particle is often abbreviated by physicists in Electron Volts. It is shorthand. The assumption is that the Energy number is divided by the speed of light squared. E = m*c^2, therefore, mass = E / c^2. The proton mass is 1 GeV / c^2, 1 billion Electron Volts / c^2 . Where “c” is (3*10^8 meters per second )^2 = 9 * 10^16 meters^2 per seconds^2. One Electron Volt = 1.6*10^-19 Joules. A Joule is kilogram* meter^2 / second^2. Therefore the mass of a proton is E / c^2 = 1*10^9 eV * 1.6*10^-19 kg*m^2 / sec^2 / 9 *10^16 m^2 / sec^2 = 1.6 *10^10 / 9*10^16 = 1.78 * 10^-27 kilograms. Using a more precise calculation the mass of a proton is 1.67 * 10^-27 kilograms
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(3) The more recent measurements put the mass of the Higgs Boson at 125 electron volts discovered in CERN’s particle accelerator. See Review # 1423 to learn more.
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