World 2 Site: What is the Higgs boson?

physicists are set to announce the latest results from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), but what is the Higgs boson, why call it the "God particle" and what it means for the discovery physics?

What is the Higgs boson?

The name of Peter Higgs, a physicist at the University of Edinburgh, the Higgs boson is crucial to understanding the origin of mass. Shortly after the Big Bang, it is estimated that many particles have no mass, but became heavy later with the Higgs field. All particles interact with matter are given by weight. The Higgs boson is the particle field signature.

What exactly is the Higgs field?

A field theoretical, invisible energy that runs through the universe. It adheres to fundamental particles wherever they are carrying with them and make them heavy. Some particles find the field more "sticky" than others. Particles of light - photons - are foreign. Other particles to wade through it like an elephant in tar. So, in theory, particles can weigh nothing, but as soon as the voltage field shortly after the Big Bang, which has its mass.

Why call it the "God particle"?

theistic His nickname was coined by Nobel laureate physicist Leon Lederman, but Higgs himself is not a fan of the label. "I find it embarrassing because, though I am not a believer myself, I think this is the kind of misuse of terminology which I think might offend some people."

According Higgs was not even Lederman choice to call the God particle. "He wanted to refer to it as the" whore of particles "and his editor would not let"

What is You can read more about the menagerie of particles predicted by the standard model here.

How is data collected?

The data comes from breaking protons together at very high energies in the Large Hadron Collider at the European particle laboratory, CERN. The collisions recreate conditions that did not exist in the universe shortly after the Big Bang. Astronomer Royal, Sir Martin Rees, said: "The LHC, in a region where the beams of microscopic particles collide, a concentration of power that has never been done before - a concentration that mimics, in microcosm the prevailing conditions in the universe during the first trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. "

After each impact, walking giant detectors subatomic debris evidence of new physics.

thought the LHC was broken?
Engineers threw the button to start the LHC in September 2008 with great fanfare world. Everything was going well until he had to be closed again 36 hours later. The incident - which led to a helium leak into the tunnel housing the superconducting ring - was caused when a faulty wire between two magnets melted by passing high current through it. Repairs and new safety system will cost around 24 million pounds. The LHC was relaunched in November 2009 and became the particle accelerator world's most powerful at the end of this month.