The discussion centers around why photons and neutrinos do not couple to the Higgs field, exploring the underlying reasons for this phenomenon, including the nature of charge and mass in the context of the Standard Model of particle physics. The conversation includes theoretical implications, experimental observations, and speculative ideas regarding the interactions of these particles with the Higgs field.
Participants express a range of views on the reasons for the lack of coupling between photons, neutrinos, and the Higgs field. While some points of clarification are reached, particularly regarding the nature of charge and interactions, no consensus is established on the underlying mechanisms or implications.
Participants note the complexity of the Higgs mechanism and the role of mass in particle interactions. There are unresolved questions about the specific nature of neutrino mass and its implications for coupling to the Higgs field, as well as the speculative nature of some ideas presented.
This discussion may be of interest to those studying particle physics, particularly in relation to the Standard Model, Higgs field interactions, and the nature of fundamental particles.
quantumfireball said:But is there no underlying reason?
are you implying that the photon lacks a kind of charge which prevents it from coupling to the Higgs field?
What is this charge called as by the physics community?
eg, electric charge,weak charge,colour charge etccc
blechman said:it's called electric charge! the Higgs boson is neutral, and hence cannot couple to the photon (to leading order). It DOES couple at higher order in perturbation theory. for example, the decay higgs -> 2 photons is a potentially very interesting decay channel, but it has to go through loops (higgs -> top+antitop, which then annihilate into two photons).
The neutrino is much more subtle, as Lester says. Depending on HOW the neutrino gets a mass (is there a right-handed neutrino?!) will determine how it couples to the Higgs. This is still an open and hotly debated question.
Phrak said:Blechman, I'm somewhat confused. If the Higgs couple to electric charge, how can the weak Z and the neutrino have mass, or do you mean there should be additional mechanisms?
Paolo 2008 said:I've got an idea. Photons are the left overs of the interaction of Higgs bosons with Black Holes. I know that this idea may sound crazy, but it won't hurt to speculate. In General Relativity, we know that gravity drags escaping Photons making them to lose energy (redshift). In the same way picture Higgs bosons escaping the tremendous gravitational pull of a Black Hole, but instead of redshifting, they get stripped of mass and become massless photons while its mass decays into several other subatomic particlas such as quarks or leptons. This statement is oversimplified, but it may be the start of something in the understanding of the Higgs mechanism.
blechman said:Not the Higgs, the PHOTON - the photon can only couple (at leading order) to objects with charge.
Hope that helps.
Phrak said:No, sorry. One of us misunderstood the question posed by quantumfireball. I think the man was asking what charge is conserved on interaction with the Higgs, as though the Higgs bosons were force carriers.