Question regarding Higgs boson

In summary, the Higgs boson is strongly related to the Higgs mechanism, which is a result of having an ordinary multi-component Higgs field at high energies. The Nobel prizes awarded for breakthroughs related to the Higgs boson in 1979, 1999, and 2008 would still be valid even if the Higgs boson is not found, as the other discoveries are still significant. However, there are many models that achieve the Higgs mechanism without the Higgs boson, and some argue that other physicists, such as Cabibbo and Anderson, also deserve credit for the discovery. Ultimately, the Nobel Prize rules only allow for three recipients, so if and when the Higgs boson is
  • #1
pmphysics
1
0
Hi to all,
I am an electrical engineer so my knowledge about "heavy" physics is somewhat limited.
I like reading about ( only superficially ) this "heavy" physics so I am puzzled about something and I need your help.

Is Higgs boson strongly related with Higgs mechanism?

We all know that Nobels are given for experimentally confirmed breakthroughs. If Higgs boson is not found what does that mean for Nobel prize in physics 1979, 1999, 2008.

Thanks
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #2
pmphysics said:
Hi to all,
I am an electrical engineer so my knowledge about "heavy" physics is somewhat limited.
I like reading about ( only superficially ) this "heavy" physics so I am puzzled about something and I need your help.

Is Higgs boson strongly related with Higgs mechanism?

We all know that Nobels are given for experimentally confirmed breakthroughs. If Higgs boson is not found what does that mean for Nobel prize in physics 1979, 1999, 2008.

Thanks

Indeed the Higgs boson is strongly related to the Higgs mechanism. It is a consequence of it you might say. The way it works is that you have an ordinary multi-component Higgs field at high energies (like in the early universe), meaning there were effectively several kinds of Higgs bosons flying around. As the universe cooled, the field cooled also and became a kind of constant background, no longer jiggling with Higgs bosons. This field became somewhat "attached" to the other particles, making them heavy (massive). However, if you kick the field hard enough (by doing some really high energy particle collisions) then you can make it wiggle enough that higgs bosons once again pop out of it, only they will be a kind of low energy version of the ones that existed in the early universe. And there will be just one kind. According to the Standard Model. And they will disappear back into the background field very shortly thereafter.

As for Nobel prizes, well I didn't look up those prizes but I assume they are for things like the electroweak model. Those things were still great breakthroughs in fundamental physics so they are no less deserving of a Nobel prize just because a piece of them turns out to not be quite right.
 
  • #3
  • #4
In 1979 Glashow, Salam and Weinberg were awarded the Nobel Prize especially for their construction of the electro-weak interaction which unifies a lot of different and partially new phenomena in a single framework (a renormalizable theory instead of Fermi theory, charged and neutral currents related to W- and Z-bosons, exact preduction of their masses! interaction of electrons, neutrinos and quarks, ...). The award in 1979 was a bit risky as not only the Higgs boson but in addition the W-and the Z-bosons had not been identified in experiments at that time (the W and the Z where found in the early eightees at CERN; this was another Nobel prize to Rubbia and van der Meer). w/o a Higgs everything else of the electro-weak theory (especially the W and the Z) would remain valid, at least as an effective theory.

In 1999 't Hooft and Veltman were awarded the Nobel Prize for results on the structure of non-abelian quantum field theories, especially for renormalization (and I guess absence of anomalies). This is relevant especially for electroweak interactions, but not less for QCD! which "does not need the Higgs" In addition they are theoretical or mathematical physicists and therefore their insights would not vanish with the disproof of the Higgs boson.

Regarding the prize in 2008 (Nambu, Kobayashi and Maskawa) similar reasons apply. There is spontaneous symmetry breaking, there is a state-mixing and CP-violation in the electroweak sector, ...; all these results remain valid (w/o or w/ slight modifications) even w/o a Higgs. Why the committee failed to reward Cabibbo is still unclear to me.
 
Last edited:
  • #5
Cabibbo arguably deserves some of the credit, but the rules of the Nobel Prize stipulate a maximum of three people. A similar dilemma will arise if and when the Higgs boson is discovered. People in line for the award: Higgs, Brout, Englert, Guralnik, Hagen and Kibble.
 
  • #6
Bill_K said:
Cabibbo arguably deserves some of the credit, but the rules of the Nobel Prize stipulate a maximum of three people.
But then they should have left out Nambu instead of Cabibbo.
 
  • #7
Really? I'd have to say that with all his achievements, Nambu was ten times more deserving of a Nobel Prize than the other two. And by that time he had already been passed over twice for the award: once in 2003 for superconductivity, and once in 2004 for quantum chromodynamics. Kobayashi and Maskawa are known for the CKM matrix and little else.
 
  • #8
Bill_K said:
Cabibbo arguably deserves some of the credit, but the rules of the Nobel Prize stipulate a maximum of three people. A similar dilemma will arise if and when the Higgs boson is discovered. People in line for the award: Higgs, Brout, Englert, Guralnik, Hagen and Kibble.

Not to forget Anderson. After all, the mechanism was discovered by him in 1958 before it got transferred to HEP by the other ones in the middle of the 1960s.
 
  • #9
Bill_K said:
... I'd have to say that with all his achievements, Nambu was ten times more deserving of a Nobel Prize than the other two. ... Kobayashi and Maskawa are known for the CKM matrix and little else.
Agreed - so Nambu and nobody else would have been OK
 

What is the Higgs boson?

The Higgs boson is a subatomic particle that is a fundamental component of the Standard Model of particle physics. It is responsible for giving other particles their mass.

Why is the Higgs boson important?

The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 confirmed the existence of the Higgs field, which is crucial for our understanding of the origin of mass in the universe. It also helps to explain how particles interact with each other and gives insight into the fundamental forces of nature.

How was the Higgs boson discovered?

The Higgs boson was discovered by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Switzerland. Protons were accelerated to almost the speed of light and collided, producing particles that were then detected by the LHC's detectors. Scientists analyzed the data and found evidence of the Higgs boson.

What are the implications of the discovery of the Higgs boson?

The discovery of the Higgs boson has confirmed the Standard Model of particle physics and has opened up new avenues for further research. It also helps to support the Big Bang theory and gives insight into the origins of the universe.

Can the Higgs boson be used for practical applications?

Currently, there are no known practical applications of the Higgs boson. However, the research and technology used to discover and study it have led to advancements in other fields, such as medical imaging and computer science.

Similar threads

  • High Energy, Nuclear, Particle Physics
Replies
11
Views
1K
  • High Energy, Nuclear, Particle Physics
Replies
9
Views
2K
  • High Energy, Nuclear, Particle Physics
Replies
7
Views
2K
  • High Energy, Nuclear, Particle Physics
Replies
13
Views
2K
  • High Energy, Nuclear, Particle Physics
Replies
9
Views
3K
  • High Energy, Nuclear, Particle Physics
Replies
15
Views
1K
  • High Energy, Nuclear, Particle Physics
Replies
12
Views
3K
  • High Energy, Nuclear, Particle Physics
Replies
9
Views
3K
  • High Energy, Nuclear, Particle Physics
Replies
4
Views
2K
  • High Energy, Nuclear, Particle Physics
Replies
15
Views
2K
Back
Top