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.

a lowering of the energy level then absorb the H boson?

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.