Higgs Boson and acceleration

Macrobe

I was thinking, because of the relationship between energy and mass and the mathematics, would it (theoretically speaking, of course) be possible to accelerate the Higgs Boson to the speed of light, reducing its mass value to 0 and converting that mass into energy? I was also wondering if this were accomplished, would we get something very similar to a photon?

Drakkith

No, the higgs boson has mass and it is not possible to reduce it to 0 and accelerate it to c.

Macrobe

I was under the impression that all mass excluding rest mass was relative. All the equations I've ever seen or solved show that, as c is approached, the value of mass decreases until c is reached, when m=0 and E=∞, and therefore all mass seems to be converted to energy whenever the speed of light is reached. This is how I see it, and it seems to explain why light has no rest mass and never stops. If it stops, it would either: a.) cease to exist or b.) become something material. I don't know exactly how b would happen, but it is a theoretical possibility from the equations I have used. (If you're wondering, I was using Einstein's equations of total energy and relativistic momentum).

Drakkith

Whenever anyone talks about mass in a serious way they pretty much always mean "rest mass". As such, the mass of an object does not change no matter how fast it's going. It's total energy and momentum will continue to increase without bound. Now, before you try to tell me that according to relativity the mass will to because of E=MC², realize that the equation in that form is only partially complete and that in its complete form any extra energy in the form of kinetic energy or whatever is taken into account in a different term.

I don't what equations you are using, but either they are wrong or your understanding of how to use them is. E increases without bounds as velocity increases. C is NEVER reached. You cannot do it. Attempting to insert the value of c as the velocity is WRONG and the equation isn't designed for that. It's like trying to divide by zero. It's just not going to work.

No, it is not theoretically possible. You are using the math incorrectly and trying to extract something about reality from it that is not true.

Macrobe

Ok, now I think I see what I am doing wrong. But I wasn't using the rest energy formula as something other than something to compare to. I was using total relativistic energy, which is E=mc²/√1-(v²/c²). Nevertheless, as stated above, I can see a potential error. I was keeping the value of E at a constant number that I picked at random (56) and was finding the value of m based on varying values of v. When I compared the values of m between E=mc² and E=mc²/√1-(v²/c²), the values were slightly different. With the rest energy formula, m=6.22 repeating, whereas with the total energy formula I was getting something usually about 0.00000000001 smaller. Its not much of a reduction, but I have a feeling I'm doing something wrong by keeping E at a constant number.

Drakkith

Yes, I don't know why you are keeping E a constant number. Instead, keep M constant and increase velocity.

Macrobe

Ok, I'm glad we cleared that up. Keeping E constant was a mistake. But I have one last question that I have just thought of: Because I know that the value of E approaches infinity as c is approached, and now that I know that keeping E at a constant is the wrong thing to do: The mass of an object is not decreasing, but the energy being derived from that amount is increasing when v increases. Thus, energy is acting as if the mass of the object is increasing, when in actuality in proportion the mass is decreasing, right? Or am I confused, because I think I might be, a little bit.

Drakkith

Take the equation E=γMC², with γ = [itex]\frac{1}{\sqrt{1-V^{2}/C^{2}}}[/itex]

As the velocity of the object increases so does it's energy. As V approaches C, the proportion of the total energy that the mass contributes to becomes less and less because more of the total energy is coming from the objects velocity. The object isn't acting like the MASS is increasing, as that is a distinctly different effect that we could see just by changing reference frames to one where the object is traveling at a different velocity. If the mass were increasing then the object could be accelerated to a high enough velocity to implode on itself thanks to the force of gravity. Obviously this does not happen because in the frame of the object itself, it is NOT moving.

Macrobe

That is the equation I was using, but I now understand whats going on. Thank you for clearing this up; I appreciate it. :)