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78-546: [REDACTED] Look up higgs in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Higgs may refer to: Physics [ edit ] Higgs boson , an elementary particle Higgs factory , a proposed particle accelerator Higgs field , a quantum field Higgs field (classical) Higgs mechanism , an explanation for electroweak symmetry breaking Higgs phase Higgs sector Mathematics [ edit ] Higgs bundle ,
156-482: A 40-year search , and the construction of one of the world's most expensive and complex experimental facilities to date, CERN 's Large Hadron Collider , in an attempt to create Higgs bosons and other particles for observation and study. On 4 July 2012, the discovery of a new particle with a mass between 125 and 127 GeV/ c was announced; physicists suspected that it was the Higgs boson. Since then,
234-405: A batting performance which Wisden later described as "flawless". He made five further first-class appearances in 1920, scoring a total of 345 runs at an average of 38.33, which besides his century also included two fifties . Continuing his good form into the following season, he made nine first-class appearances, scoring 425 runs at an average of 26.56, which included two half centuries, and
312-666: A belief generally exists among physicists that there is likely to be "new" physics beyond the Standard Model , and the Standard Model will at some point be extended or superseded. The Higgs discovery, as well as the many measured collisions occurring at the LHC, provide physicists a sensitive tool to search their data for any evidence that the Standard Model seems to fail, and could provide considerable evidence guiding researchers into future theoretical developments. Below an extremely high temperature, electroweak symmetry breaking causes
390-426: A comprehensive theory for particle physics. In the late 1950s, Yoichiro Nambu recognised that spontaneous symmetry breaking , a process where a symmetric system becomes asymmetric, could occur under certain conditions. Symmetry breaking is when some variable that previously didn't affect the measured results ( it was originally a "symmetry" ) now does affect the measured results ( it's now "broken" and no longer
468-646: A full relativistic model, independently and almost simultaneously, by three groups of physicists: by François Englert and Robert Brout in August 1964; by Peter Higgs in October 1964; and by Gerald Guralnik , Carl Hagen , and Tom Kibble (GHK) in November 1964. Higgs also wrote a short, but important, response published in September 1964 to an objection by Gilbert , which showed that if calculating within
546-444: A major unanswered problem in physics. The six authors of the 1964 PRL papers , who received the 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for their work; from left to right: Kibble , Guralnik , Hagen , Englert , Brout ; right image: Higgs . Particle physicists study matter made from fundamental particles whose interactions are mediated by exchange particles – gauge bosons – acting as force carriers . At
624-508: A non-zero value (or vacuum expectation ) everywhere . This non-zero value could in theory break electroweak symmetry. It was the first proposal capable of showing how the weak force gauge bosons could have mass despite their governing symmetry, within a gauge invariant theory. Although these ideas did not gain much initial support or attention, by 1972 they had been developed into a comprehensive theory and proved capable of giving "sensible" results that accurately described particles known at
702-452: A physical massive vector field [gauge bosons with mass]. This is what happens in superconductivity , a subject about which Anderson was (and is) one of the leading experts. [text condensed] The Higgs mechanism is a process by which vector bosons can acquire rest mass without explicitly breaking gauge invariance , as a byproduct of spontaneous symmetry breaking . Initially, the mathematical theory behind spontaneous symmetry breaking
780-459: A result of these failures, gauge theories began to fall into disrepute. The problem was symmetry requirements for these two forces incorrectly predicted the weak force's gauge bosons ( W and Z ) would have "zero mass" (in the specialized terminology of particle physics, "mass" refers specifically to a particle's rest mass ). But experiments showed the W and Z gauge bosons had non-zero (rest) mass. Further, many promising solutions seemed to require
858-487: A second first-class century, scored against Warwickshire at Hove. His century came in a two-hour partnership of 188 for the third wicket with Jack Malden . He made nine first-class appearances for the county in the following season, though met with less success than in his previous two seasons, averaging 17.28 for his 242 runs, with three half centuries and a high score of 62. He played his greatest quantity of first-class matches in 1923, with eleven appearances all made in
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#1732757713433936-483: A symmetry ). In 1962 physicist Philip Anderson , an expert in condensed matter physics , observed that symmetry breaking played a role in superconductivity , and suggested it could also be part of the answer to the problem of gauge invariance in particle physics. Specifically, Anderson suggested that the Goldstone bosons that would result from symmetry breaking might instead, in some circumstances, be "absorbed" by
1014-2451: A vector bundle Higgs prime , a class of prime numbers People [ edit ] Alan Higgs (died 1979), English businessman and philanthropist Alf Higgs (born 1904), Welsh rugby league footballer Alfred Higgs (athlete) (born 1991), Bahamian sprinter Amanda Higgs , Australian television producer, writer and executive Anna Higgs , English film producer Avis Higgs (1918–2016), New Zealand textile designer and painter Blaine Higgs (born 1954), Canadian politician; Premier of New Brunswick Blake Alphonso Higgs (1915–1986), Bahamian singer and musician Cecil Higgs (1898–1986), South African artist Colleen Higgs (born 1962), South African writer and publisher David Higgs , American organist Denis Higgs (1929–2011), English mathematician Derek Higgs (1944–2008), English business leader and merchant banker, son of Alan Higgs Douglas Higgs (born 1951), British haematologist Dustin Higgs (1972–2021), American convicted murderer Eric Higgs (disambiguation) , various people George Higgs (1930–2013), American Piedmont blues musician Godfrey Higgs (1907–1986), Bahamian sailor Griffin Higgs (1589–1659), English churchman Harry Higgs (born 1991), American golfer Helen Burns Higgs (1897–1983), Bahamian writer, journalist and botanical illustrator Henry Higgs (1864–1940), English civil servant, economist and historian of economic thought Henry Marcellus Higgs (also known as H.M. Higgs) (1855–1929), English composer and music arranger Hubert Higgs (1911–1992), Anglican Bishop of Hull Jake Higgs (born 1975), Canadian curler James Higgs (1829–1902), English organist and teacher, uncle of Henry Marcellus Higgs Jess Higgs (born 1989), Australian singer also known as George Maple Jim Higgs (born 1950), Australian former cricketer Joe Higgs (1940–1999), Jamaican singer and musician John Higgs (born 1970s), English writer, novelist, journalist Jonathan Higgs (born 1985), English singer-songwriter and musician Ken Higgs (1937–2016), English cricketer Ken Higgs (Canadian football) (1930–2002), Canadian football player Kenneth Higgs (1886–1959), English cricketer Kenny Higgs (born 1955), American retired basketball player, brother of Mark Higgs Lesley Higgs (born 1965), English footballer Mark Higgs (born 1966), American football player who played in
1092-441: Is a manifestation of potential energy transferred to fundamental particles when they interact ("couple") with the Higgs field, which had contained that mass in the form of energy . The Higgs field is the only scalar (spin-0) field to be detected; all the other fundamental fields in the Standard Model are spin- 1 / 2 fermions or spin-1 bosons. According to Rolf-Dieter Heuer , director general of CERN when
1170-459: Is also very unstable, decaying into other particles almost immediately upon generation. The Higgs field is a scalar field with two neutral and two electrically charged components that form a complex doublet of the weak isospin SU(2) symmetry. Its " Sombrero potential " leads it to take a nonzero value everywhere (including otherwise empty space), which breaks the weak isospin symmetry of
1248-454: Is also very unstable, decaying into other particles almost immediately via several possible pathways. The Higgs field is a scalar field , with two neutral and two electrically charged components that form a complex doublet of the weak isospin SU(2) symmetry. Unlike any other known quantum field, it has a Sombrero potential . This shape means that below extremely high energies of about 159.5 ± 1.5 GeV such as those seen during
1326-417: Is strongly supported. The presence of the field, now confirmed by experimental investigation, explains why some fundamental particles have (a rest) mass , despite the symmetries controlling their interactions, implying that they should be "massless". It also resolves several other long-standing puzzles, such as the reason for the extremely short distance travelled by the weak force bosons, and, therefore,
1404-412: The 1964 PRL symmetry breaking papers . All three groups reached similar conclusions and for all cases, not just some limited cases. They showed that the conditions for electroweak symmetry would be "broken" if an unusual type of field existed throughout the universe, and indeed, there would be no Goldstone bosons and some existing bosons would acquire mass . The field required for this to happen (which
1482-488: The County Championship . He equalled the success of his first two seasons in 1923, scoring 474 runs at an average of 27.88, though he failed to record a century, he did however make four half centuries. Higgs played just five first-class matches in 1924, scoring 199 runs with two half centuries. He didn't make any first-class appearances in 1925 or 1926, with his final first-class match coming in 1927, in what
1560-486: The Higgs mechanism , a way for some particles to acquire mass . All fundamental particles known at the time should be massless at very high energies, but fully explaining how some particles gain mass at lower energies had been extremely difficult. If these ideas were correct, a particle known as a scalar boson should also exist (with certain properties). This particle was called the Higgs boson and could be used to test whether
1638-476: The Higgs particle , is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the quantum excitation of the Higgs field , one of the fields in particle physics theory. In the Standard Model, the Higgs particle is a massive scalar boson with zero spin , even (positive) parity , no electric charge , and no colour charge that couples to (interacts with) mass. It
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#17327577134331716-591: The Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013 for their theoretical predictions. Although Higgs's name has come to be associated with this theory, several researchers between about 1960 and 1972 independently developed different parts of it. In the media, the Higgs boson has often been called the " God particle " after the 1993 book The God Particle by Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman . The name has been criticised by physicists, including Peter Higgs . Physicists explain
1794-443: The Standard Model through the mechanism of mass generation . As more precise measurements of its properties are made, more advanced extensions may be suggested or excluded. As experimental means to measure the field's behaviours and interactions are developed, this fundamental field may be better understood. If the Higgs field had not been discovered, the Standard Model would have needed to be modified or superseded. Related to this,
1872-451: The Sun . The Higgs field is responsible for this symmetry breaking. The Higgs field is pivotal in generating the masses of quarks and charged leptons (through Yukawa coupling) and the W and Z gauge bosons (through the Higgs mechanism). The Higgs field does not "create" mass out of nothing (which would violate the law of conservation of energy ), nor is the Higgs field responsible for
1950-783: The electromagnetic force and the weak nuclear force – and then to unify these interactions , were still unsuccessful. One known problem was that gauge invariant approaches, including non-abelian models such as Yang–Mills theory (1954), which held great promise for unified theories, also seemed to predict known massive particles as massless. Goldstone's theorem , relating to continuous symmetries within some theories, also appeared to rule out many obvious solutions, since it appeared to show that zero-mass particles known as Goldstone bosons would also have to exist that simply were "not seen". According to Guralnik , physicists had "no understanding" how these problems could be overcome. Particle physicist and mathematician Peter Woit summarised
2028-511: The electroweak interaction and, via the Higgs mechanism , gives a rest mass to all massive elementary particles of the Standard Model, including the Higgs boson itself. The existence of the Higgs field became the last unverified part of the Standard Model of particle physics, and for several decades was considered "the central problem in particle physics". Both the field and the boson are named after physicist Peter Higgs , who in 1964, along with five other scientists in three teams, proposed
2106-534: The electroweak interaction to manifest in part as the short-ranged weak force , which is carried by massive gauge bosons . In the history of the universe , electroweak symmetry breaking is believed to have happened at about 1 picosecond (10 s) after the Big Bang , when the universe was at a temperature 159.5 ± 1.5 GeV/ k B . This symmetry breaking is required for atoms and other structures to form, as well as for nuclear reactions in stars, such as
2184-486: The fundamental particles and forces of our universe in terms of the Standard Model – a widely accepted framework based on quantum field theory that predicts almost all known particles and forces aside from gravity with great accuracy. (A separate theory, general relativity , is used for gravity.) In the Standard Model, the particles and forces in nature (aside from gravity) arise from properties of quantum fields known as gauge invariance and symmetries . Forces in
2262-441: The inflaton responsible for this exponential expansion of the universe during the Big Bang . Such theories are highly tentative and face significant problems related to unitarity , but may be viable if combined with additional features such as large non-minimal coupling, a Brans–Dicke scalar, or other "new" physics, and they have received treatments suggesting that Higgs inflation models are still of interest theoretically. In
2340-407: The inflaton – a hypothetical field suggested as the explanation for the expansion of space during the first fraction of a second of the universe (known as the " inflationary epoch "). Some theories suggest that a fundamental scalar field might be responsible for this phenomenon; the Higgs field is such a field, and its existence has led to papers analysing whether it could also be
2418-408: The speed of light in vacuum seems to give the identical result, whatever the location in time and space, and whatever the local gravitational field . In these kinds of theories, the gauge is an item whose value we can change. The fact that some changes leave the results we measure unchanged means it is a gauge invariant theory, and symmetries are the specific kinds of changes to the gauge which have
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2496-467: The "Higgs Field", was hypothesized to exist throughout space, and to break some symmetry laws of the electroweak interaction , triggering the Higgs mechanism. It, therefore, would cause the W and Z gauge bosons of the weak force to be massive at all temperatures below an extremely high value. When the weak force bosons acquire mass, this affects the distance they can freely travel, which becomes very small, also matching experimental findings. Furthermore, it
2574-544: The 1872 novel Erewhon by Samuel Butler John Higgs, a silent character in The Archers on BBC Radio 4 Higgs Monaghan, an antagonist in Hideo Kojima's 2019 video game Death Stranding Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Higgs . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
2652-610: The 1920s who made over forty appearances for Sussex . Born at Haywards Heath , Sussex, Higgs was a right-handed batsman . He was known as "the Haywards Heath amateur" and was a corn merchant by profession (Jenner & Higgs). Prior to playing first-class cricket, Higgs served in the British Army during World War I , with a Kenneth Alan Higgs mentioned in the London Gazette on 24 August 1915, as serving with
2730-750: The Higgs boson particle Ray Higgs (born 1950), Australian rugby league footballer Raymond Higgs (born 1991), Bahamian long jumper Rebekah Higgs (born 1982), Canadian singer Robert Higgs (born 1944), American economist Robert W. Higgs (born 1957), South African admiral Russell Shaw Higgs (born 1960), British artist and political activist Shane Higgs (born 1977), English footballer Suzanne Higgs , English psychologist Teddy Higgs (died 1950), British tennis player Tracy Higgs (born 1970), British psychic and television personality Walter Higgs (1886–1961), British Member of Parliament William Higgs (disambiguation) , various people Fiction [ edit ] Higgs, narrator in
2808-464: The Higgs boson suggest that our universe lies within a false vacuum of this kind, then it would imply – more than likely in many billions of years – that the universe's forces, particles, and structures could cease to exist as we know them (and be replaced by different ones), if a true vacuum happened to nucleate . It also suggests that the Higgs self-coupling λ and its β λ function could be very close to zero at
2886-402: The Higgs boson was discovered, this existence proof of a scalar field is almost as important as the Higgs's role in determining the mass of other particles. It suggests that other hypothetical scalar fields suggested by other theories, from the inflaton to quintessence , could perhaps exist as well. There has been considerable scientific research on possible links between the Higgs field and
2964-403: The Higgs field and its properties has been extremely significant for many reasons. The importance of the Higgs boson largely is that it is able to be examined using existing knowledge and experimental technology, as a way to confirm and study the entire Higgs field theory. Conversely, proof that the Higgs field and boson did not exist would have also been significant. The Higgs boson validates
3042-432: The Higgs field and the presently observed vacuum energy density of the universe has also come under scientific study. As observed, the present vacuum energy density is extremely close to zero, but the energy densities predicted from the Higgs field, supersymmetry, and other current theories are typically many orders of magnitude larger. It is unclear how these should be reconciled. This cosmological constant problem remains
3120-558: The Higgs field does not actually resist particles, and the effect of mass is not caused by resistance. In the Standard Model, the Higgs boson is a massive scalar boson whose mass must be found experimentally. Its mass has been determined to be 125.35 ± 0.15 GeV/ c by CMS (2022) and 125.11 ± 0.11 GeV/ c by ATLAS (2023). It is the only particle that remains massive even at very high energies. It has zero spin , even (positive) parity , no electric charge , and no colour charge , and it couples to (interacts with) mass. It
3198-565: The Higgs field was the correct explanation. After a 40-year search , a subatomic particle with the expected properties was discovered in 2012 by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN near Geneva , Switzerland. The new particle was subsequently confirmed to match the expected properties of a Higgs boson. Physicists from two of the three teams, Peter Higgs and François Englert , were awarded
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3276-451: The LHC. Various analogies have been used to describe the Higgs field and boson, including analogies with well-known symmetry-breaking effects such as the rainbow and prism , electric fields , and ripples on the surface of water. Other analogies based on the resistance of macro objects moving through media (such as people moving through crowds, or some objects moving through syrup or molasses ) are commonly used but misleading, since
3354-799: The National Football League, brother of Kenny Higgs Mark Higgs (cricketer) (born 1976), Australian cricketer Mary Higgs (1854–1937), British writer and social reformer Matthew Higgs (born 1964), English artist, curator, writer and publisher Michael Higgs (born 1962), English actor Michael Higgs (politician) (1912–1995), British Member of Parliament Mike Higgs , British comic book artist, writer, designer, and editor Montague Higgs (1939–2006), Bahamian sailor Nate Higgs (born 1970), American/Spanish basketball player and coach Nick Higgs , English businessman and football club chairman Peter Higgs (1929–2024), British physicist and Nobel Prize laureate, namesake of
3432-465: The Planck scale, with "intriguing" implications, including theories of gravity and Higgs-based inflation. A future electron–positron collider would be able to provide the precise measurements of the top quark needed for such calculations. More speculatively, the Higgs field has also been proposed as the energy of the vacuum , which at the extreme energies of the first moments of the Big Bang caused
3510-435: The Standard Model are transmitted by particles known as gauge bosons . Gauge invariant theories are theories which have a useful feature, i.e.: some kinds of changes to the value of certain items do not make any difference to the outcomes or the measurements we make. For example: changing voltages in an electromagnet by +100 volts does not cause any change to the magnetic field it produces. Similarly, measuring
3588-516: The Standard Model provides an accurate description of particle physics up to extreme energies of the Planck scale , then it is possible to calculate whether the vacuum is stable or merely long-lived. A Higgs mass of 125–127 GeV/ c seems to be extremely close to the boundary for stability, but a definitive answer requires much more precise measurements of the pole mass of the top quark. New physics can change this picture. If measurements of
3666-443: The Standard Model, there exists the possibility that the underlying state of our universe – known as the "vacuum" – is long-lived, but not completely stable . In this scenario, the universe as we know it could effectively be destroyed by collapsing into a more stable vacuum state . This was sometimes misreported as the Higgs boson "ending" the universe. If the masses of the Higgs boson and top quark are known more precisely, and
3744-606: The Yang–Mills theory, that "considering the superconducting analog ... [t]hese two types of bosons seem capable of canceling each other out ... leaving finite mass bosons"), and in March 1964, Abraham Klein and Benjamin Lee showed that Goldstone's theorem could be avoided this way in at least some non-relativistic cases, and speculated it might be possible in truly relativistic cases. These approaches were quickly developed into
3822-436: The accuracy of its predictions led scientists to believe the theory might be true. By the 1980s, the question of whether the Higgs field existed, and therefore whether the entire Standard Model was correct, had come to be regarded as one of the most important unanswered questions in particle physics . The existence of the Higgs field became the last unverified part of the Standard Model of particle physics, and for several decades
3900-419: The beginning of the 1960s a number of these particles had been discovered or proposed, along with theories suggesting how they relate to each other, some of which had already been reformulated as field theories in which the objects of study are not particles and forces, but quantum fields and their symmetries . However, attempts to produce quantum field models for two of the four known fundamental forces –
3978-547: The effect of leaving measurements unchanged. Symmetries of this kind are powerful tools for a deep understanding of the fundamental forces and particles of our physical world. Gauge invariance is therefore an important property within particle physics theory. They are closely connected to conservation laws and are described mathematically using group theory . Quantum field theory and the Standard Model are both gauge invariant theories – meaning they focus on properties of our universe, demonstrating this property of gauge invariance and
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#17327577134334056-535: The eventual theory published there was still almost no wider interest. For example, Coleman found in a study that "essentially no-one paid any attention" to Weinberg's paper prior to 1971 and discussed by David Politzer in his 2004 Nobel speech. – now the most cited in particle physics – and even in 1970 according to Politzer, Glashow's teaching of the weak interaction contained no mention of Weinberg's, Salam's, or Glashow's own work. In practice, Politzer states, almost everyone learned of
4134-423: The existence of extra particles known as Goldstone bosons . But evidence suggested these did not exist either. This meant either gauge invariance was an incorrect approach, or something unknown was giving the weak force's W and Z bosons their mass, and doing it in a way that did not create Goldstone bosons. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, physicists were at a loss as to how to resolve these issues, or how to create
4212-464: The first picosecond (10 s) of the Big Bang , the Higgs field in its ground state takes less energy to have a nonzero vacuum expectation (value) than a zero value. Therefore in today's universe the Higgs field has a nonzero value everywhere (including otherwise empty space). This nonzero value in turn breaks the weak isospin SU(2) symmetry of the electroweak interaction everywhere. (Technically
4290-452: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Higgs&oldid=1220714216 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists English-language surnames Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Higgs boson The Higgs boson , sometimes called
4368-401: The mass of all particles. For example, approximately 99% of the mass of baryons ( composite particles such as the proton and neutron ), is due instead to quantum chromodynamic binding energy , which is the sum of the kinetic energies of quarks and the energies of the massless gluons mediating the strong interaction inside the baryons. In Higgs-based theories, the property of "mass"
4446-588: The massless W and Z bosons . If so, perhaps the Goldstone bosons would not exist, and the W and Z bosons could gain mass , solving both problems at once. Similar behaviour was already theorised in superconductivity. In 1964, this was shown to be theoretically possible by physicists Abraham Klein and Benjamin Lee , at least for some limited ( non-relativistic ) cases. Following the 1963 and early 1964 papers, three groups of researchers independently developed these theories more completely, in what became known as
4524-610: The non-zero expectation value converts the Lagrangian 's Yukawa coupling terms into mass terms.) When this happens, three components of the Higgs field are "absorbed" by the SU(2) and U(1) gauge bosons (the " Higgs mechanism ") to become the longitudinal components of the now-massive W and Z bosons of the weak force . The remaining electrically neutral component either manifests as a Higgs boson, or may couple separately to other particles known as fermions (via Yukawa couplings ), causing these to acquire mass as well. Evidence of
4602-448: The particle has been shown to behave, interact, and decay in many of the ways predicted for Higgs particles by the Standard Model, as well as having even parity and zero spin , two fundamental attributes of a Higgs boson. This also means it is the first elementary scalar particle discovered in nature. By March 2013, the existence of the Higgs boson was confirmed, and therefore, the concept of some type of Higgs field throughout space
4680-450: The radiation gauge, Goldstone's theorem and Gilbert's objection would become inapplicable. Higgs later described Gilbert's objection as prompting his own paper. Properties of the model were further considered by Guralnik in 1965, by Higgs in 1966, by Kibble in 1967, and further by GHK in 1967. The original three 1964 papers demonstrated that when a gauge theory is combined with an additional charged scalar field that spontaneously breaks
4758-509: The rank of private in the 16th (County of London) Battalion , with this date coinciding with his promotion to 2nd Lieutenant . Following the war, Higgs resigned his commission in August 1920. It was in that same year that he made his first-class debut for Sussex against Worcestershire in the County Championship at Hove , during which he achieved the feat of making a century on his first-class debut, scoring 101 in Sussex's first-innings,
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#17327577134334836-462: The state of research at the time: Yang and Mills work on non-abelian gauge theory had one huge problem: in perturbation theory it has massless particles which don't correspond to anything we see. One way of getting rid of this problem is now fairly well understood, the phenomenon of confinement realized in QCD , where the strong interactions get rid of the massless "gluon" states at long distances. By
4914-399: The symmetries which are involved. Quantum field theories based on gauge invariance had been used with great success in understanding the electromagnetic and strong forces , but by around 1960, all attempts to create a gauge invariant theory for the weak force (and its combination with the electromagnetic force, known together as the electroweak interaction ) had consistently failed. As
4992-415: The symmetry, the gauge bosons may consistently acquire a finite mass. In 1967, Steven Weinberg and Abdus Salam independently showed how a Higgs mechanism could be used to break the electroweak symmetry of Sheldon Glashow 's unified model for the weak and electromagnetic interactions , (itself an extension of work by Schwinger ), forming what became the Standard Model of particle physics. Weinberg
5070-403: The theory due to physicist Benjamin Lee , who combined the work of Veltman and 't Hooft with insights by others, and popularised the completed theory. In this way, from 1971, interest and acceptance "exploded" and the ideas were quickly absorbed in the mainstream. Kenneth Higgs Kenneth Alan Higgs (5 October 1886 – 21 January 1959) was an English first-class cricketer active in
5148-404: The time, and which, with exceptional accuracy, predicted several other particles discovered during the following years . During the 1970s these theories rapidly became the Standard Model of particle physics. To allow symmetry breaking, the Standard Model includes a field of the kind needed to "break" electroweak symmetry and give particles their correct mass. This field, which became known as
5226-445: The universe to be a kind of featureless symmetry of undifferentiated, extremely high energy. In this kind of speculation, the single unified field of a Grand Unified Theory is identified as (or modelled upon) the Higgs field, and it is through successive symmetry breakings of the Higgs field, or some similar field, at phase transitions that the presently known forces and fields of the universe arise. The relationship (if any) between
5304-475: The very early sixties, people had begun to understand another source of massless particles: spontaneous symmetry breaking of a continuous symmetry. What Philip Anderson realized and worked out in the summer of 1962 was that, when you have both gauge symmetry and spontaneous symmetry breaking, the massless Nambu–Goldstone mode [which gives rise to Goldstone bosons] can combine with the massless gauge field modes [which give rise to massless gauge bosons] to produce
5382-543: The weak force's extremely short range. As of 2018, in-depth research shows the particle continuing to behave in line with predictions for the Standard Model Higgs boson. More studies are needed to verify with higher precision that the discovered particle has all of the properties predicted or whether, as described by some theories, multiple Higgs bosons exist. The nature and properties of this field are now being investigated further, using more data collected at
5460-422: Was conceived and published within particle physics by Yoichiro Nambu in 1960 (and somewhat anticipated by Ernst Stueckelberg in 1938 ), and the concept that such a mechanism could offer a possible solution for the "mass problem" was originally suggested in 1962 by Philip Anderson, who had previously written papers on broken symmetry and its outcomes in superconductivity. Anderson concluded in his 1963 paper on
5538-506: Was considered "the central problem in particle physics". For many decades, scientists had no way to determine whether the Higgs field existed because the technology needed for its detection did not exist at that time. If the Higgs field did exist, then it would be unlike any other known fundamental field, but it also was possible that these key ideas, or even the entire Standard Model, were somehow incorrect. The hypothesised Higgs theory made several key predictions. One crucial prediction
5616-611: Was far from easy. In principle, it can be proved to exist by detecting its excitations , which manifest as Higgs particles (the Higgs boson ), but these are extremely difficult to produce and detect due to the energy required to produce them and their very rare production even if the energy is sufficient. It was, therefore, several decades before the first evidence of the Higgs boson could be found. Particle colliders , detectors, and computers capable of looking for Higgs bosons took more than 30 years ( c. 1980–2010 ) to develop. The importance of this fundamental question led to
5694-399: Was his only appearance in that seasons County Championship against Warwickshire at Cricket Field Road, Horsham . Higgs made a total of 41 first-class appearances for Sussex, scoring 1,693 runs at an average of 25.65, with his score of 111 against Warwickshire being his highest. He also made thirteen half centuries. Although not the oldest man to make a hundred on his first-class debut, he
5772-425: Was later realised that the same field would also explain, in a different way, why other fundamental constituents of matter (including electrons and quarks ) have mass. Unlike all other known fields, such as the electromagnetic field , the Higgs field is a scalar field , and has a non-zero average value in vacuum . There was not yet any direct evidence that the Higgs field existed, but even without direct proof,
5850-403: Was possible in two papers covering massless, and then massive, fields. Their contribution, and the work of others on the renormalisation group – including "substantial" theoretical work by Russian physicists Ludvig Faddeev , Andrei Slavnov , Efim Fradkin , and Igor Tyutin – was eventually "enormously profound and influential", but even with all key elements of
5928-455: Was purely hypothetical at the time) became known as the Higgs field (after Peter Higgs , one of the researchers) and the mechanism by which it led to symmetry breaking became known as the Higgs mechanism . A key feature of the necessary field is that it would take less energy for the field to have a non-zero value than a zero value, unlike all other known fields, therefore, the Higgs field has
6006-433: Was that a matching particle , called the "Higgs boson", should also exist. Proving the existence of the Higgs boson would prove whether the Higgs field existed, and therefore finally prove whether the Standard Model's explanation was correct. Therefore, there was an extensive search for the Higgs boson , as a way to prove the Higgs field itself existed. Although the Higgs field would exist everywhere, proving its existence
6084-428: Was the first to observe that this would also provide mass terms for the fermions. At first, these seminal papers on spontaneous breaking of gauge symmetries were largely ignored, because it was widely believed that the (non-Abelian gauge) theories in question were a dead-end, and in particular that they could not be renormalised . In 1971–72, Martinus Veltman and Gerard 't Hooft proved renormalisation of Yang–Mills
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