What is Higgs: Definition and 682 Discussions

In the Standard Model of particle physics, the Higgs mechanism is essential to explain the generation mechanism of the property "mass" for gauge bosons. Without the Higgs mechanism, all bosons (one of the two classes of particles, the other being fermions) would be considered massless, but measurements show that the W+, W−, and Z0 bosons actually have relatively large masses of around 80 GeV/c2. The Higgs field resolves this conundrum. The simplest description of the mechanism adds a quantum field (the Higgs field) that permeates all space to the Standard Model. Below some extremely high temperature, the field causes spontaneous symmetry breaking during interactions. The breaking of symmetry triggers the Higgs mechanism, causing the bosons it interacts with to have mass. In the Standard Model, the phrase "Higgs mechanism" refers specifically to the generation of masses for the W±, and Z weak gauge bosons through electroweak symmetry breaking. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN announced results consistent with the Higgs particle on 14 March 2013, making it extremely likely that the field, or one like it, exists, and explaining how the Higgs mechanism takes place in nature.
The mechanism was proposed in 1962 by Philip Warren Anderson, following work in the late 1950s on symmetry breaking in superconductivity and a 1960 paper by Yoichiro Nambu that discussed its application within particle physics.
A theory able to finally explain mass generation without "breaking" gauge theory was published almost simultaneously by three independent groups in 1964: by Robert Brout and François Englert; by Peter Higgs; and by Gerald Guralnik, C. R. Hagen, and Tom Kibble. The Higgs mechanism is therefore also called the Brout–Englert–Higgs mechanism, or Englert–Brout–Higgs–Guralnik–Hagen–Kibble mechanism, Anderson–Higgs mechanism, Anderson–Higgs–Kibble mechanism, Higgs–Kibble mechanism by Abdus Salam and ABEGHHK'tH mechanism (for Anderson, Brout, Englert, Guralnik, Hagen, Higgs, Kibble, and 't Hooft) by Peter Higgs. The Higgs mechanism in electrodynamics was also discovered independently by Eberly and Reiss in reverse
as the "gauge" Dirac field mass gain due to the artificially displaced electromagnetic field as a Higgs field.On 8 October 2013, following the discovery at CERN's Large Hadron Collider of a new particle that appeared to be the long-sought Higgs boson predicted by the theory, it was announced that Peter Higgs and François Englert had been awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics.

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  1. Mordred

    Is the Graviton Necessary for Gravity in Light of Higgs Field Discoveries?

    After the Cern discovery supporting the Higgs field Which is something I have little familiarity with. Due mainly to fourm opinions not necessarily this one that had discounted anything Higgs related. I started wondering if we do need a graviton to be the force carrier of gravity in the...
  2. Drakkith

    Have Scientists Found Two Different Higgs Bosons?

    From here: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/12/14/have-scientists-found-two-different-higgs-bosons/ So how significant would this be if it turns out to be true? I wasn't aware that there had been predictions of more than one Higgs in the first place, but the article says...
  3. C

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    I wonder if there's a connection and it's a requirement or it's a completely different matter and space(time) warps anyway.
  4. E

    Higgs boson interactions and gravitons

    How is it possible that the Higgs boson interacts with itself? Now that it is almost certainly discovered, how can a particle that gives mass to other particles, give mass to itself? Does it make a 'loop' with other Higgs bosons? How can the Higgs boson interact with other particles in such...
  5. R

    Why is there a need for the Higgs?

    I'm having hard time getting my head around this. If E=mc2, then why do we need a Higgs Boson? Can't all matter simply be pockets of greater or lesser intensity (i.e. energy with highly stable angular momentum carrying mass, less stable angular momentum as short-lived particles, and energy as...
  6. T

    W boson-like particle from Higgs

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  7. nomadreid

    On a point of logic in the Higgs vs strong force origin of mass

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  8. S

    How exactly does the Higgs field and boson interact with particles?

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  9. Islam Hassan

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  10. N

    Top heavier than Higgs. Why not found at Fermilab?

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  11. T

    Parity of a Particle (and Parity of the Higgs in particular)

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  12. D

    Article: Higgs Boson in Superconductors

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  13. M

    How Kane et al get the Higgs mass

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  14. P

    Questions about the behavior of the Higgs particle and Higgs field

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  15. P

    Is the mass conferred by Higgs an 'effective' mass?

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  16. F

    Difference between the Higgs field and the Inflaton field?

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  17. V

    Higgs Boson and Dark Matter / Dark Energy

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  18. sweet springs

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  19. S

    Expanding Higgs Field: Where Does Energy Come From?

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  20. haael

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  21. L

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  22. Orion1

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  23. S

    The Higgs Field and Gravity: A Possible Connection?

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  24. A

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  25. C

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  26. T

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  28. M

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  29. T

    Question on Higgs analogy - any answers?

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  31. X

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  32. S

    Why to create Higgs Boson in LHC ?

    Hi If the Higgs field is present everywhere then so should be the Higgs Boson right? Then why is a particle accelerator required. Cant it be just detected from around us? Salil
  33. C

    Is the Higgs field the same as space?

    I suppose the title says it all. I'm not a physicist, obviously, and all I know on the subject I know from pop science. I tried Googling this but got pretty much nothing. Here's what I want to know--is there a difference between the Higgs field and the phenomenon we know as space, or are they...
  34. B

    Is Higgs boson a particle of pure mass?

    Is the Higgs boson only a particle of pure mass? It has no charge, no spin, no color, no flavor, etc. Does it have any other non-zero characteristic besides just mass?
  35. G

    More questions about Higgs for the layman

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  36. S

    Can Antimatter react with Higgs?

    Since Particles react with the Higgs Field to gain mass, can't the antiparticles react with it too to gain mass. Thanks Salil
  37. L

    Higgs Boson: The Ultimate Truth?

    Real or fake? Since we still know so little about particle physics and related applications the question remains out there. I am curious to know what others think?
  38. arivero

    Higgs, SuperStrings and Kaluza Klein

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  39. A

    What is q (the charge) in higgs mechanism?

    what is "q" (the charge) in higgs mechanism? hi, does anybody know what kind of charge the "q" stand for in the higgs mechanism? I mean the mechanism between the weak force mediators: W & Z, and the higgs boson, which leads to them acquiring mass. I've learned about it from the...
  40. N

    New Theory: from Superfluids to Higgs mechanism

    Theorem unifies superfluids and other weird materials http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2012/06/08/theorem-unifies-superfluids-and-other-weird-materials/ Nambu Goldstone bosons...of the Higgs Mechanism!..and phonons...from Cosmology to materials design. “Surprisingly, the implications of...
  41. A

    How does the Higgs mechanism explain the origin of mass in particles?

    Hi, As I understand, please correct me if I'm wrong, when a subatomic particle interacts with the Higgs field it generates mass due to the higgs mechanism. Does this have anything to do with with e = mc2? (I'm not too privy to particle physics or relativity.) Suppose an electron and a...
  42. T

    What is the Higgs Boson made up of?

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  43. TrickyDicky

    Is the Higgs mechanism really a spontaneous symmetry breaking?

    The Higgs mechanism is often explained (both here at PF and in many physics sites including wikipedia) as an example of spontaneous symmetry breaking, but the Nobel winner physicist 't Hooft says in his "for laymen" book about particle physics, "In search of the ultimate building blocks", that...
  44. R

    Help understanding the Higgs field?

    So the way I understand it is that certain particles move through the Higgs field and encounter no resistance, giving it no mass. The others that do encounter resistance are the ones that have mass. But if increasing resistance means increasing mass, why wouldn't things become infinitely...
  45. J

    Have they actually found the higgs boson?

    I know they have been very close to it and seen something similar to the boson but did they actually find it? it's like the media has been blowing it up and saying they found it, but there was not official claim, it was just yeah we spend a garbageload of energy and time trying to find it, we...
  46. S.Daedalus

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    As everyone knows, since the fourth of July, the family of elementary particles has been re-united with its long-lost son, the Higgs boson. Of course, as every discovery, so this one, too, serves to open up further questions. The first one that presents itself is certainly: So, is this the...
  47. P

    The Higgs mechanism and the Beginning of the Universe

    The Higgs mechanism and the Beginning of the Universe Now that the excitement about the discovery of the Higgs particle has made the Higgs mechanism justly famous, could someone please clarify for me the implications of incorporating this component of the Standard Model of Particle Physics...
  48. arivero

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    The fermi four point interaction (consider its modern version, quark up to down plus electron plus antineutrino) is not renormalisable Then we introduce an intermediate boson W in the middle. Then we give mass to this W using the higgs mechanism. Then we produce the higgs via a fermion...
  49. J

    Are the weak force bosons truly short ranged or do they acquire mass?

    As I understand it in a normal superconductor electromagnetic fields are extinguished by opposing fields produced by induced superconducting currents. This causes photons to only penetrate a short distance into a superconductor. I understand that one can imagine the Higgs field as a kind of...
  50. A

    How exctly the higgs field originted after the big bang?

    i know that they are trying to recreate the higgs boson at CERN LHC, but talking about when the big bang happened, how was the higgs field suppose to happen?
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