The Higgs Boson
- The Higgs-boson was predicted in 1964
- The prediction included an approximate mass for the particle, at 125 GeV c–2
- This prediction came from the standard model, which required the photon, W and Z bosons to be massless
- While the photon is indeed massless, both the W and Z bosons have large masses
- This did not align with the standard model unless mass is not a property of the particle, but a property of space
- The field that gives particles their mass is known as the Higgs-field and the particle associated with this field is the Higgs-boson
- The Higgs-boson was eventually discovered in 2012 at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland
- The Higgs-boson is responsible for the mass of all other particles in the standard model
- The quantum field theory that is responsible for this mechanism is beyond the scope of the IB DP Physics course
- Understanding the Higgs-boson mechanism is deeply complex
- However, the concept is an integral part of the standard model and particle physics