Higgs boson Particles

Higgs Boson is a theoretical particle deduced as a result of the ‘Standard Model’ of Particle Physics. Some call it ‘The God Particle’ as it is considered to be the center to our understanding of the nature of matter. But to understand about God Particle, we first have to understand the standard model and all that’s related to this.

In particle physics, the standard model is a widely accepted and extremely accurate framework which describes the universe of matter (fermions) and force (bosons). Consequently, the standard model is sometimes referred to as ‘The Theory of (almost) Everything’

As we now know, atoms consist of fundamental particles – electrons, protons and neutrons where protons and neutrons form the nucleus, orbited by the electrons. Electrons jump from atom to atom, forming new substances, while the composite neutrons and protons remain inside the nucleus except during nuclear reactions. These composite particles (Neutrons and Protons) are known as Hadrons and are themselves composed of Quarks which come paired in six ‘flavors’ They are also further classified into first, second and third generations respectively. On the other hand, there are Leptons comprising electron, neutrinos and others which are also six types. Anti-matter also exists in the form of counter particles (anti-quarks and anti-leptons)

 According to the Standard Model, all matter consists of quarks and leptons which are held together by bosons (those associated with a force). There are elementary and composite bosons. The three elementary bosons of the Standard Model are called gauge bosons. These include the photon (the electromagnetic force), W and Z bosons (the weak force) and the gluons (strong force). Then there are two suspected but unobserved bosons: the Gravitation and the Higgs boson.

So, the Standard Model encompasses:

• Six ‘flavors’ of quarks: up, down, top, bottom, strange and charm
• Six types of leptons: electron, electron neutrino, muon, muon neutrino, tau, tau neutrino
• Thirteen gauge bosons (force carriers): the gravitation graviton of gravity, the photon of electromagnetism, the three W and Z bosons of the weak force and the eight gluons of the strong force.

All matter has mass. But it is found through many experiments that none of the standard model fermions (matter) or bosons (force) can have mass as an inbuilt property. So these particles had to have acquired their mass from some external source. This thinking gave rise to the theory that mass is derived from a yet unobserved particle – the Higgs boson.

For the Higgs boson particles to exist, there first has to be the Higgs field. Particles move through the Higgs field with varying levels of interation (some move quickly being unaffected by the field and others move slowly by interacting with the field). The particles moving quickly have less mass and those moving slowly have greater mass. The Higgs boson within the Higgs field causes particles to gain mass.