What Is The Higgs Boson?

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What is this thing we keep hearing about - the Higgs Boson, and why is it important?

Follow us on Twitter: @universetoday

Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain
Jason Harmer - @jasoncharmer
Susie Murph - @susiemmurph
Brian Koberlein - @briankoberlein
Kevin Gill - @kevinmgill

Created by: Fraser Cain and Jason Harmer

Edited by: Chad Weber

Music: Left Spine Down - “X-Ray”

It’s been said that the best way to learn is to teach. And so, today I’m going to explain everything I can about the Higgs boson. And if I do this right, maybe, just maybe, I’ll understand it a little better by the end of the episode.

I’d like to be clear that this video is for the person whose eyes glaze over every time you hear the term Higgs boson. You know it’s some kind of particle, Nobel prize, mass, blah blah. But you don’t really get what it is and why it’s important.

First, let’s start with the Standard Model. These are essentially the laws of particle physics as scientists understand them. They explain all the matter and forces we see all around us. Well, most of the matter, there are a few big mysteries, which we’ll discuss as we get deeper into this.

But the important thing to understand is that there are two major categories: the fermions and the bosons.

Fermions are matter. There are the protons and neutrons which are made up of quarks, and there are the leptons, which are indivisible, like electrons and neutrinos. With me so far? Everything you can touch are these fermions.

The bosons are the particles that communicate the forces of the Universe. The one you’re probably familiar with is the photon, which communicates the electromagnetic force. Then there’s the gluon, which communicates the strong nuclear force and the W and Z bosons which communicate the weak nuclear force.

Mystery number 1, gravity. Although it’s one of the fundamental forces of the Universe, nobody has discovered a boson particle that communicates this force. So, if you’re looking for a Nobel Prize, find a gravity boson and it’s yours. Prove that gravity doesn’t have a boson, and you can also get a Nobel Prize. Either way, there’s a Nobel Prize in it for you.

Again, this is the Standard Model, and it accurately describes the laws of nature as we see them around us.

One of the biggest unsolved mysteries in physics was the concept of mass. Why does anything have mass at all, or inertia? Why does the amount of physical “stuff” in an object define how easy it is to get moving, or how hard it is to make it stop?

In the 1960s, physicist Peter Higgs predicted that there must be some kind of field that permeates all of space and interacts with matter, sort of like a fish swimming through water. The more mass an object has, the more it interacts with this Higgs field.

And just like the other fundamental forces in the Universe, the Higgs field should have a corresponding boson to communicate the force - this is the Higgs boson.

The field itself is undetectable, but if you could somehow detect the corresponding Higgs particles, you could assume the existence of the field.

And this is where the Large Hadron Collider comes in. The job of a particle accelerator is to convert energy into matter, via the formula e=mc2. By accelerating particles - like protons - to huge velocities, they give them an enormous amount of kinetic energy. In fact, in its current configuration, the LHC moves protons to 0.999999991c, which is about 10 km/h slower than the speed of light.

When beams of particles moving in opposite directions are crashed together, it concentrates an enormous amount of energy into a tiny volume of space. This energy needs somewhere to go so it freezes out as matter (thanks Einstein). The more energy you can collide, the more massive particles you can create.

And so, in 2013, the LHC allowed physicists to finally be able to confirm the presence of the Higgs Boson by tuning the energy of the collisions to exactly the right level, and then detecting the cascade of particles that occur when Higgs bosons decay.

Because the right particles are detected, you can assume the presence of the Higgs boson, and because of this, you can assume the presence of the Higgs field. Nobel prizes for everyone.
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Good explanation, Fraser!

So is dark matter basically matter that doesn't interact with electromagnetic energy but does interact with the Higgs Field?

joescott
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Yea! I'm so glad you're still doing these. For a while I thought you were just going to be doing the hang-outs now. GREAT to have these back. :-)

Krommer
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so... we're close to understand a 100% of the 4% of our known universe? ... WORK HARDER, SCIENTISTS!! We're cutting down pee breaks and lunch time is now just 30minutes!

kinorai
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Great to see the show back Fraser! Weather looks nice where you are, I'm trapped in a strong snow storm, already snowed a meter

Ryan-snfq
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Soo glad you are back Fraser! Keep up the good work!!!

georgenelson
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Without a doubt THE BEST explanation of Higgs I've heard! Thx

vrstovsek
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awesome! thank you for your informational monologs. thank you.😁

TCDooM
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Thanks. I am currently reading "Most wanted particle : the inside story of the hunt for the Higgs, the heart of the future of physics" by Jon Butterworth and this helps me understand more of what he is taking about. I'm enjoying the book, in case you are interested.

FlippingPhysics
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The saying I heard was "Those who can. Do. Those who can't. Teach." lol.

franger
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Great explanation to help us understand. Well worth the wait.

johnstryker
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Somehow I still don't understand what's going on with these particles

ionlymadethistoleavecoment
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Nice and clear explanation! Congrats for the great video! 👍

SafadosAteus
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Yay the mind blowing information videos are back!! Don't get me wrong, I like the weekly space hangout vids, but I miss and prefer this format.

braesspartan
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She showed us the set of all her white background videos... AWESOME!!

pumbanation
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You describing the Higgs mechanism like you did makes me wonder why it's not considered one of the then-five fundamental forces of the universe.

unvergebeneid
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10 km slower than the speed of light = Cern speed of protons, is the best explanation about cern I ever heard, thank thank you for that ;-)

Edwinvangent
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Kugelblitz and BH starship drive will be a good topic, especially artificially sustaining a BH for free mass to energy conversion.

AiEU
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You explained it so well thank you so much🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

perry
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thank you for this one. well explained for us simpletons.

andrewstewart
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Glad to see a new video. I've been waiting. Too bad I still don't understand the Higgs Boson. Not your fault Fraser, I'll just have to watch this a few more dozen times. Seriously though, good to see you again.

michaelmacomber