Why is the Higgs field a scalar field?

[Pseudo Epsilon]

as i understand it the higgs field is a spin-0 scalar field that gives mass to elementry particles. How is it a scalar field? I thought it was homogenous.

 

[Pseudo Epsilon]

please don't be too harsh.

 

[Bill_K]

as i understand it the higgs field is a spin-0 scalar field that gives mass to elementry particles. How is it a scalar field? I thought it was homogenous.

Is it possible you're confusing the Higgs field with the Higgs boson? The Higgs field is a uniform background scalar field whose existence permits other particles to have mass in an electroweak gauge invariant manner. The Higgs boson is an excitation of the Higgs field. Since the Higgs field is a scalar field, the Higgs boson has spin 0.

 

[Naty1]

It IS a scalar [spin 0] field...

Wikipedia has a pretty good general description here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_mechanism

Meantime:

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1001.5212v2.pdf

The technically easiest way to achieve SSB in an interacting field theory is to introduce an effective scalar field and adjust its phenomenological potential so that it has a symmetry-breaking

Like other components of the Standard Model, Higg's fields are manual insertions [mathematical additions] individually tailored with the specific properties needed to provide different particles with observed mass; We need a mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking to bring forth mass; The Higgs Field provides such a tool. Symmetry transformations are generated on Hilbert space of states by unitary operators.

When you know the additional physical characteristics required in a partial theory, you can invent mathematics to produce them and glue them into whatever model you'd like. Like adding the Higg's field in early cosmology to provide spontaneous symmetry breaking.from a prior discussion: [from Post #12]
[/Qhttps://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=621236

MArkM: The weak force is mediated by three massive particles, called the W+, W-, and Z bosons. One important aspect of the Standard Model is electroweak symmetry - at a sufficiently high temperature (at a time immediately after the big bang), the weak force becomes indiscernible from the electromagnetic force. This means that the W and Z bosons were initially massless. Breaking this symmetry is the job of the Higgs field. Spin 1 particles like the W and Z bosons have at least two degrees of freedom. One way a massless particle could gain mass is by the absorption of a scalar (spin 0) particle as its longitudional mode (as it's second degree of freedom).

A scalar particle that does this is called a Nambu-Goldstone bosonUOTE]

edit: I see Bill_K posted while I was composing: "The Higgs boson is an excitation of the Higgs field."
yes...
so this is what we detect locally, a 'particle' meaning a quanta/excitation of the theoretical field.

 

[PRB147]

I think it is the requirement of symmetry-breaking.