What is the Higgs boson?
Q: What is the Higgs boson?
A: The Higgs boson is a particle in the Standard Model of physics. It was first suggested by Peter Higgs in the 1960s and was confirmed to exist by scientists at CERN on 14 March 2013. It is one of 17 particles in the Standard Model and is a boson, which are thought to be responsible for physical forces.
Q: How does the Higgs field work?
A: The Higgs field is a fundamental field that takes a non-zero value almost everywhere. It was the last unverified part of the Standard Model and its existence was seen as "the central problem in particle physics". When gauge bosons interact with it, they slow down and their kinetic energy goes into creating mass-energy, which becomes what we call a Higgs boson. This process obeys conservation of energy law, where no energy is created or destroyed but instead can be transferred or change form.
Q: Why is it difficult to detect the Higgs boson?
A: The Higgs boson has a very large mass compared to other particles so it does not last very long. There are usually no around because it takes so much energy to make one. To find them, scientists use supercomputers sift through massive amounts of data from trillions of particle collisions at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Even then there's only a small chance (one in 10 billion) that evidence of a Higgs will appear and be detected.
Q: What other known bosons are there?
A: Other known bosons include photons, W and Z Bosons, and gluons.
Q: How does Einstein's equation E=mc2 relate to the creation of mass-energy from kinetic energy?
A: Einstein's famous equation states that mass equals an extremely large amount of energy (for example 1 kg = 90 quadrillion joules). When kinetic energy from gauge bosons interacting with the Higgs field slows down, this same amount of kinetic energy goes into creating mass-energy which becomes what we call a Higgs Boson - thus conserving total energy according to conservation laws.
Q: What role do science fiction stories play with regards to understanding how higgsbosons work?
A: Science fiction stories often feature higgsbosons as part of their plotlines but these stories don't necessarily provide accurate scientific information about how they work - they're more for entertainment purposes than anything else!
