Higgs Boson Particle

The Higgs Boson Explained (hopefully)

The Higgs Boson is a subatomic particle named after Peter Higgs who first theorised this particle. It "gives" other subatomic particles mass which confirms The current standard model of physics. Many of you will have probably heard about it through the news through headlines such as “Scientists have found the Higgs Boson” e.t.c. But I want to be very clear. They have not found the Higgs Boson. They have mealy found traces of a particle which appears to have similar properties to the theorised Higgs Boson particle.

So what does the Higgs Boson mean for physics?

If the particle does turn out to be the Higgs Boson then this has a huge repercussion for physics as it would confirm the existence of the “Higgs Field”. This theory was described by famous physicist David Miller like this. You have a room full of political party workers spread evenly throughout a room. An anonymous person who passes through the crowd with ease would be like the interaction between the field and a massless photon. If the British prime minister, however, tried to do the same, his or her progress would be greatly held back by the swarm of admirers crowding around him/her, and would be more like the interaction for a particle that acquires a finite mass. The Higgs field gives mass to the massless gauge bosons.

Why is the Higgs Boson particle also named the “God” particle?

This is a thing called irony. Scientists nicknamed it the god particle as it unifies the other subatomic particles and confirms the standard model of physics.  Many uneducated people think that the God particle somehow confirms the existence of a greater being and there have been many posts along the lines of “The God particle has been found. Take that Atheists” or “God particle found. Your argument is now invalid atheists”. To these people I face palm and wonder what has happened to our education system.

What if the particle turns out to not be the Higgs Boson?

Well then that would disprove the standard physics model. Luckily the physicists came up with some “backup” theories. Some of these are extensions on the standard model, the most famous being the supersymmetry theory. All of these models are trying to explain the interactive forces between the subatomic particles.

If you have any questions about the Higgs Boson please leave them in comments and I will try my best to answer them! Or you can look on Google or Wikipedia.

DFTBA