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"Goddamn Particle" - Higgs Boson
Shweta Katakdhond
Apr 9, 20203 min read
Updated: Apr 13, 2020
The quantum world introduces us to the Standard Model of particle physics. Deciphering these particle interactions, behaviour, and parameters, is what gives shape to the world we live in. From molecules being the smallest form of a chemical compound, to the atoms of elements from the periodic table, let's dive down even deeper.
The subatomic particles in our universe can be further categorized into three sections: quarks, leptons, and bosons. Quarks deal with the nuclear aspect of the subatomic particles, primarily found in groups together to make up the protons and neutrons, the nuclei of the atoms. Leptons carry a negative charge and have masses and consist of electrons, muons, tau along with their complementary neutrino pair which exists without a charge and remain neutral, called neutrinos.
The beauty of the Standard Model is when bosons come into play. Unlike quarks and leptons which arise from matter fields, bosons are generated from force fields. Particles are grounded by the fundamental forces of the universe: Gravitational, Electromagnetic, Weak and Strong Nuclear forces. Bosons act as an interface for communication which in turn govern these forces. For instance, quarks undergo complex interactions with each other in order to transfer strong bosons to associate a strong nuclear attraction between them. This separates them from the way protons (composed of quarks) interact with electrons. In a way, we could say that bosons demonstrate a sense of identity for the matter field particles stated above termed as Fermions, by behaving as a messenger.
All particles are excitations of fields. Similarly, identifying a boson proves that a particular field exists. With that analogy, the rise of the Higgs Boson can prove that the Higgs field exists! One of the most brilliant observations made at the CERN laboratory was a particle that could be the Higgs Boson. First, let’s understand Higgs field. It is said that when a particle interacts with such a field, it gains mass, whereas the ones that don't, like photons, remain massless. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Not quite, considering the amount effort required to bring in experimental proof into the picture. Higgs field allows particles to gain mass proportional to the way it interacts with the field, as similar to dropping a marble ball into a jar of honey, slowly making its way through while clumping the honey on its sides till the bottom of the jar. How strongly a particle, in this case the marble, interacts with its respective field, the honey, determines its mass. Your mass is not from Higgs Boson, but instead how it interacts with a concept called Higgs mechanism which stops particles in space traveling at the speed of light.
Then why is it so difficult to identify Higgs Boson? That’s because it’s not the particle itself contributing to its mass, but the field. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN set out to search for this boson by setting out two beams of protons in a 27Km tunnel in the collider so that when the beams collide, we can identify the new particles created due to the high energy, including Higgs Boson. However, they decay really quickly but these end products can be used for analysis.
The standard model gives us a theoretical approach to this boson and in 2017, CERN confirmed that the measurements of the experiment and produced over 3 million Higgs Bosons of the theoretical version itself.
The standard model of particle physics gives us just a glance of what surrounds us. Beginning from the basics of particle physics could perhaps lead us to bigger answers the universe has to offer.
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