- What is the Higgs Boson?
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- The “Higgs Boson” is a fundamental particle that permeates the “Higgs Field” that, in turn, creates the property of mass for the other fundamental particles. In other words, fundamentally the Higgs Boson is where mass and inertia come from.
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- A more familiar analogy might by the electron which is another fundamental particle. It creates an electric field where opposite charges experience an attractive force and like electric charges experience a repelling force. The “Boson” that permeates this electric field is called the “photon“. The photon is the force carrier for light and all the other electromagnetic radiation. It is a quantum particle that permeates all electromagnetic energy in our Universe.
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- There is a lot of particle physics background needed to get a better handle on all this. So, hang in there.
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- Our natural world that we are familiar with is made up of fundamental particles at their lowest energy level. That is what makes them stable particles. These are electrons, (protons and neutrons), and photons. Protons and neutrons, that make up the nucleus of all atoms, were thought to be fundamental particles but it turns out that they are made up of lighter fundamental particles called Quarks.
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- Protons are comprised of two “Up Quarks” and one “Down Quark” and have a positive electric charge. Neutrons are comprised of two Down Quarks and one Up Quark and have a neutral charge, or said in another way, carry no charge at all.
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- The fundamental particles that make up our natural world are:
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------------ Electrons, Up Quarks, Down Quarks and Photons.
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- There are not just 4 fundamental particles however. The Universe has higher energy particles to bring this total to 12 fundamental particles. Then, we have anti-matter outside our natural world that brings the total to the Universe having 24 fundamental particles. Then, there are additional force carrier particles that bring us the Weak and Strong Nuclear Forces, and Inertia Mass. So, hang in there we have a ways to go.
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- If you add energy to an electron it transforms into another fundamental particle called a “Muon“. If you add more energy to a Muon it transforms into a third fundamental particle called the Tau. The higher energy particles are always seeking the lowest energy level and they quickly decay to the lowest energy state. In this case, to become an electron. Here are the energy levels of these three fundamental particles:
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--------------------------- Electron ======== 0.000511 billion electron volts
--------------------------- Muon ======== 0.106 billion electron volts
--------------------------- Tau ======== 1.777 billion electron volts
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- The Quarks have similar higher energy counterparts:
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-------------- Electron ---------- Up Quark ----------- Down Quark
-------------- Muon --------- Charm Quark -------- Strange Quark
-------------- Tau -------------- Top Quark ----------- Bottom Quark
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- That is 9 of the fundamental particles. Together they are called “Fermions“. The Top Quark was the latest Fermion to be discovered. The Top Quark has an energy level of 173 billion electron volts. As we shall see, Higgs Boson has an energy level of 125 billion electron volts.
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- There are 3 other Fermions that we have not been mentioned yet. These fundamental particles are the “Neutrinos“. They are in the family of the electrons, but, they have on charge, have almost zero mass, and are very difficult to detect. Together with the electron family they are called “Leptons“. The 6 Leptons are:
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--------------- Electron -------- Electron Neutrino
-------------- Muon --------- Muon Neutrino
-------------- Tau --------------- Tau Neutrino
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- That brings the total to 12 fundamental particles, 6 Leptons and 6 Quarks. What we are building here is called the Standard Model of Particle Physics. We are on the way to the Higgs Boson, so, hang in there:
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- We finished the Fermions, let’s move on to the Bosons. The photon is the familiar Boson that permeates the electromagnetic field. The photon force carrier is what holds the electrons in orbit about the nucleus of all the atoms. The number of electrons in orbit and protons in the nucleus determine each of the elements in the Periodic Table. There are 92 elements , ranging from Hydrogen to Uranium. The photon is responsible for all electromagnetic energy.
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- The protons are positive like -charges and they should be repelled from the nucleus of the atoms by the electromagnetic force. The force that overpowers the electromagnetic force and holds the nucleus of atoms together is called the “Strong Force“. Actually, it is the Quarks that are held together in the nucleus. And, the Boson that is the force carrier for the Strong Nuclear Force is called the “Gluon“ which holds the nucleus together.
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- There is another Nuclear Force that holds the neutrons together and it is called the “Weak Nuclear Force“. The force carriers for the Weak Nuclear Force responsible for radioactive decay are the “W and Z Bosons“. The family of 4 Bosons responsible for these three forces of nature are :
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------------------- Photons ----------- Electromagnetic Force
------------------- Gluons ------------ Strong Nuclear Force
------------------- W- Bosons ------- Weak Nuclear Force
------------------- Z- Bosons -------- Weak Nuclear Force.
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- So far you have learned that the Standard Model of particle physics describes:
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----------------- 12 Fermions --------------- 4 Bosons
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- And, that the 12 Fermions are made up of:
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----------------- 6 Leptons ---------------- 6 Quarks
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- As mentioned earlier, to complicate things further, each of these particles has an equivalent “anti-particle“. Anti-particles are the same in every way except the opposite charge. Electrons have a negative charge. The anti-electron , or “positron” as it is called, has a positive charge. When particles and anti-particles of opposite charges come together they annihilate each other into a burst of Gamma Rays. All their mass is annihilated into equivalent amounts of energy. Neutral particles can become their own anti-particles.
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- Fortunately, anti-matter does not occupy our natural world in any stable form. However, we can easily produce anti-matter in the laboratory. And, it is readily made in the nuclear reactions in the stars. A great mystery in physics is why equal amounts of matter and anti-matter, produced in the Big Bang, have not annihilated the entire Universe long before now. Somehow, there was a balance tipped in one direction that allowed matter to outnumber anti-matter. What is left is the natural world made up of the fundamental particles of matter and energy.
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- Now we get to add one more fundamental particle, the Higgs Boson. It was discovered this summer in CERN , Switzerland, in the Large Hadron Collider. This particle accelerator smashes beams of protons and anti-protons together at tremendous energies, trillions of electron volts. The debris of particles that exit the collision are detected and analyzed to determine what fundamental particles were involved. The Higgs Boson was discovered at 125 billion electron volts.
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- “Higgs” comes from Peter Higgs, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, who in 1964 wrote 2 papers, each 2 pages long, explaining how a new fundamental particle added to the Standard Model could explain the property of inertia and mass. ( Actually several physicists worked out the theory but Peter was the one who got is name attached to it.)
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- 48 years later in Switzerland physicists finally discovered the particle that matched the theory.
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- The Higgs Boson permeates the Higgs Field. The Field offers resistance to motion of fundamental particles depending on how strongly each interacts with the Field. This creates the property of inertia which is the defining quality of mass.
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- This discovery expands the Standard Model of Particle Physics. There is still more to learn. Gravity is not part of the Standard Model. Its fundamental particle is called the “Graviton”, but, it has never been discovered. There may be Supersymetry that adds higher energy particles to each of these fundamental particles. But, that is only another theory. The Higgs Boson theory took nearly 50 years to be discovered. Let’s hope new discoveries can come a little faster for today’s generation. Today you know, what is a Higgs Boson!
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- An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
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