I want to understand the Higgs Boson. Not in terms of analogies and metaphors, but in terms of hard math.
Assume I have a solid background in pre-university maths and physics. (I have many bits and pieces of higher-level stuff, but let's ignore that knowledge because it is not comprehensive or cohesive.)
What sequence of things do I need to learn in order to properly understand the Higgs Boson?
The basic answer is: learn quantum mechanics, then quantum field theory, then the standard model.
By the way, it's the Higgs field that does all the interesting things - the Higgs boson is, to our knowledge, the most useless aspect of the Higgs field. It does nothing of any importance, and yet, because the Higgs field is so central, the Higgs boson also ends up interacting with most other particles.
There is a question as to why the Higgs boson isn't rendered superheavy by virtual particles, and the specific value of its mass even suggests that it has been finetuned by an unknown mechanism. So the Higgs boson may yet be a window on important undiscovered physics. But for now, it's probably the Higgs field that you want to understand.
