Non-massed particles gaining mass

dbmorpher

Would it be possible to have a mass-less particle such as a photon given mass through the Higgs field?
Could the photon be slowed down by a lowering of the energy level then absorb the H boson?
I know the answer is probably no but I would like to learn why.

mfb

If a particle (better: a particle type) gains mass via the Higgs mechanism, it has that mass always, and everywhere. There are no massless particles which "somehow" get mass later. Concerning why.... it is a result of quantum field theory.

That does not make sense (both).

dextercioby

The Higgs mechanism is just a theoretical 'trick' to achieve the correct renormalizable interactions in the Standard Model of Particles and Interactions. The particles are 'massive' to begin with.

Bill_K

Actually, the particles are massless to begin with. Right after the big bang the temperature is so high that the vacuum state is a false vacuum, in which the expectation value of the Higgs field is zero, electroweak symmetry is unbroken, and the masses of the gauge bosons, quarks and leptons are zero.

dbmorpher

So in high energy stellar collisions the vacuum of space is broken and symmetry scattered?

Bill_K

The energy required is something like 10¹⁴ to 10¹⁶ GeV, corresponding to a temperature of 10²⁷ to 10²⁹ K. The only time such a temperature ever existed was in the big bang.