“A particle collision event has been recorded in the Atlas detector of the Large Hadron Collider which has been identified as a potential Higgs.” These were the first word to indicate the discovery of Higgs coming from LHC (Large Hadron Collider) scientists in ATLAS team. After the completion of LHC and beginning of its operation, scientists have been waiting for month to hear this news. Higgs bosons were discovered in paper years ago by Peter Higgs but the experimental observation of Higgs boson has seal the deal now.
Without the Higgs, we do not exist. It should be noted that when we study the smallest components of matter, we address the biggest questions of the universe and the Higgs boson will tell us how the fundamental particles acquire their mass. This, in turn, allows the existence of complex things – such as atoms, molecules and human beings.
What Is a Boson?
Fermions and bosons are the two division types of subatomic particles. Fermions are responsible for making up matter and bosons are responsible for interaction and carrying forces. Example of fermions includes electrons, protons and neutrons while bosons are photon, the gluon, the W and Z bosons – responsible respectively for electromagnetic forces, strong nuclear and weak nuclear force.
What is the Higgs boson?
Higgs boson is a type of elementary particle responsible for giving mass in the Universe. Higgs particle were confirmed by Large Hadron Collider (LHC). LHC is a place to smash atoms together as it is one of the most powerful particle accelerator in the world located at Franco-Swiss border near Geneva and run by CERN.
Importance of Higgs Particle?
Higgs particle was the only particle remained to be discovered. It was an integral part of Standard Model of particle physics. As of now standard model is able to describe perfectly the elementary particles and their interactions but particle giving mass i.e. Higgs remained to be discovered in this model. Higgs particle play an important role in the universe because it gives mass to fermions. Without this, the matter wouldn’t be able to come together to form more complex things.
To explain the working of this, Peter Higgs introduced the mechanism of Higgs field. Electromagnetic field and light has photon as the fundamental components and similarly, Higgs field needs to have a quantized carrier particle called Higgs boson. It is the process that causes every particle to interact with the field and this interaction results as a mass.
Working of Higgs Mechanism?
The Higgs field is defined to be a continuum that extends throughout space, consisting of countless Higgs bosons similar to electromagnetic field consisting countless photons. The mass of the particles would be caused by interaction of these particles with the Higgs field as they pass through this ever pervasive field, so that the particles that have a greater interaction with the field have a larger mass.
