What is the significance of the Higgs Boson in understanding the universe?

[Beer w/Straw]

Hi, I haven't been following the search for the higgs boson and what it could actually mean to our understanding of the physical universe.

The only fleeting thought I had was that if it gives mass to matter, it can lead to an understanding of gravity on an intrinsic level.

Instead of fishing around news articles, and I assume since the scientists aren't ready to publish final conclusions, where can I start to look for good sources of information?

Should I examine standard model and go from there?

 

[Acadeus]

I cannot tell you how reliable the information of this website is due to the fact that it is my only source of information on science news but "Phys.org" just posted something about the Higgs boson.

 

[kevinferreira]

The Higgs gives mass to particles, yes, in the sense that you impose certain symmetries that you want to have in your system but the a mass term would break this symmetry. So you introduce the Higgs to do precisely this: break the symmetry, give mass to particles. The thing is, the Higgs gives mass to particles via the potential it has as interacting with itself. So all it does is to pass energy to mass, which are the same thing in the end anyway! So it does not give any fundamental proposition on gravity or the character of mass as a physical quantity.

You should definitely start with the standard model, yes.

 

[Acadeus]

You should definitely start with the standard model, yes.

What is the "standard model" you guys mentioned?

 

[DennisN]

What is the "standard model" you guys mentioned?

Hi Beer w/Straw & Acadeus!
You could start with this: Standard Model (Wikipedia).
There's also a particles section on HyperPhysics: Hyperphysics - Particle Concepts.
PhysicsForums also has a subforum High Energy, Nuclear, Particle Physics with many threads about the Higgs boson, particle physics and the Standard Model.

 

[jtbell]

What is the "standard model" you guys mentioned?

http://www.particleadventure.org/