Without the Higgs field, quarks would have no mass and consequently the proton would be heavier than the neutron, since all their mass would come from their respective binding energies. Our familiar Universe with galaxies, supernovae, planets and life would not exist without mass, and our very existence is thanks to the all-pervading Higgs field.
Why would I care about the Higgs boson? But why should you care? Our Universe with massless electrons The electron is extremely light, with a mass just over 0. Related Articles. Also On Physics. ALICE 3 workshop: towards a next-generation h A triple treat from CMS. Grabbing magic tin by the tail. Increasingly, they worry that our universe might just be a random, rather bizarre permutation among uncountable other possible universes — an effective dead end in the quest for a coherent theory of nature.
This month, the LHC launched its eagerly anticipated second run at nearly double its previous operating energy, continuing its pursuit of new particles or phenomena that would solve the hierarchy problem.
The new proposal offers a possible way forward. Their solution traces the hierarchy between gravity and the other fundamental forces back to the explosive birth of the cosmos, when, their model suggests, two variables that were evolving in tandem suddenly deadlocked.
The axion has appeared in theoretical equations since and is deemed likely to exist. It just wants to work. However, as several experts noted, in its current form the idea has shortcomings that will need to be carefully considered. And even if it survives this scrutiny, it could take more than a decade to test experimentally.
For the time being, experts said, the relaxion is shaking up longheld views and encouraging some physicists to see the hierarchy problem in a new light. Nothing showed up that could reconcile the Higgs mass with the predicted mass scale associated with gravity, which lies beyond experimental reach at 10,,,,,, GeV. The super-heavy gravitational states should mingle quantum mechanically with the Higgs boson, contributing huge factors to the value of its mass.
Yet somehow, the Higgs boson ends up lightweight. Experts often compare the finely tuned Higgs mass to a pencil standing on its lead tip, nudged this way and that by powerful forces like air currents and table vibrations that have somehow struck a perfect balance. Since the s, the most popular proposal has been supersymmetry. The Higgs field changed the environment when it was turned on, altering the way that particles behave.
Some of the most common metaphors compare the Higgs field to a vat of molasses or thick syrup, which slows some particles as they travel through. Others have envisioned the Higgs field as a crowd at a party or a horde of paparazzi. As famous scientists or A-list celebrities pass through, people surround them, slowing them down, but less-known faces travel through the crowds unnoticed.
But why did the Higgs field turn on? Why do some particles interact more with the Higgs field than others? The Higgs field gives mass to fundamental particles—the electrons, quarks and other building blocks that cannot be broken into smaller parts. The rest comes from protons and neutrons, which get almost all their mass from the strong nuclear force. These particles are each made up of three quarks moving at breakneck speeds that are bound together by gluons, the particles that carry the strong force.
The energy of this interaction between quarks and gluons is what gives protons and neutrons their mass.
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