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05-07-2024

The Higgs Boson Discovery: Unravelling the Mysteries of Particle Physics - An Insight for the IB Curriculum 

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In the field of Particle physics, the Higgs Boson discovery is a monumental achievement. Particle physics forms the building blocks of matter, radiation and their interaction in nuclear physics.  It is the study of atomic and subatomic particles, such as quarks, electrons, and nuclei, and the forces that cause their interactions. The discovery confirmed the existence of the Higgs boson, a fundamental particle associated with the Higgs field, that gives mass to other particles. It completely confirms the Standard Model and presents the mechanism to give mass to particles.

Background of Higgs boson discovery

The Standard Model is a theoretical framework that describes the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions that control fundamental particles. The Higgs boson completes this model by providing a mechanism for particle mass.

The Department of Energy (DOE), US Office of Science, explains that -

The Higgs boson 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.

The existence of the Higgs Boson was proposed almost 50 years before its discovery, that is, in the 1960s. In 2012, in a collaborative experiment by ATLAS and CMS, the researchers from the two institutes worked at the  Large Hadron Collider (LHC) — the most powerful particle accelerator in the world — located at the European particle physics laboratory CERN, Switzerland. The Higgs Boson gives the best description of the subatomic world as known to mankind.

A basic understanding of the Higgs Boson by CERN

In nature, every particle is a wave in a field. In 1964 it was proposed that the Higgs field fills the entire universe and gives mass to all elementary particles. The Higgs boson is a wave in that field and all the articles get their mass by interacting with the Higgs field. As per CERN,

The stronger a particle interacts with the Higgs field, the heavier the particle becomes. Photons, for example, do not interact with this field and therefore have no mass. Yet other elementary particles, including electrons, quarks and bosons, do interact and hence have a variety of masses.”

The mass-giving interaction with the Higgs field proposed by the scientists’ team comprising theorists Robert Brout, François Englert and Peter Higgs is the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism.

Why is it the ‘God Particle’?

When particles interact with each other, a boson, which is a “force carrier” particle, is exchanged. A boson can be described as a wave in a quantum field and an excited electromagnetic field, a Higgs boson is the particle or “quantised manifestation” that arises when the Higgs field is excited. With a mass of 125 billion electron volts, which is 130 times more massive than a proton, the Higgs Boson is a chargeless quantum mechanical equivalent of angular momentum. This means that it is the only elementary particle with no spin.

Without the Higgs field and its boson, other fundamental particles would have no mass in the Standard Model. Nobel physicist Leon Lederman and science writer Dick Teresi coined the term “God particle” to describe the Higgs Boson in their 1993 book "The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?" to describe its elusiveness and significance.

Some facts about the Higgs Boson

  • Because of its moniker, “god particle”, many assume that the Higgs boson has supernatural or divine significance. Contrary to this view, the name only highlights its specific properties and importance in particle physics.
  • The Higgs Boson gets its mass from its interactions with the Higgs field, like the other particles.
  • There is more than one Higgs boson, with some theoretical models predicting five Higgs bosons.
  • In our universe, the acquisition of mass and fundamental particles is through their interaction with the Higgs field.
  • The Higgs Boson can be a portal to finding new dark matter with its distinctive properties.

The Higgs Boson continues to be studied and scientists are working on finding new particles in the Higgs field. The Higgs boson plays a fundamental role in helping us understand the vacuum in the universe and how it can be stabilised. It increases access to higher collider energies, and scientists are looking for novel ways to stabilise the Higgs boson mass.

quiz corner

1. What fundamental property of particles does the Higgs Boson provide insight into?

2. Which experiment confirmed the existence of the Higgs Boson in 2012?

3. According to the Standard Model, what does the Higgs Boson interact with to give particles their mass?

4. Who coined the term "God Particle" to describe the Higgs Boson?

5. What distinguishes the Higgs Boson from other elementary particles?

6. How many Higgs bosons do some theoretical models predict might exist?

7. Where was the Higgs Boson discovered?

8. What is the role of the Higgs field in particle interactions?

9. What does the mass of the Higgs Boson correspond to in electron volts (eV)?

10. What significant concept does the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism explain?

11. What is the Higgs Boson associated with?

12. What did the discovery of the Higgs Boson confirm?

13. When was the existence of the Higgs Boson proposed?

14. What significant scientific achievement did the collaborative experiment by ATLAS and CMS accomplish?

15. What is a significant characteristic of photons in relation to the Higgs field?


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