This Higgs field breaks electroweak symmetry and provides mass to particles though a process called the Higgs mechanism. The excitation of the Higgs field is called a Higgs boson.
Questions tagged [higgs]
1153 questions
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How literally should you take "The Higgs boson gives other particles mass"?
A standard phrase in popular discussions of the Higgs boson is that "it gives particles mass". To what extent is this a reasonable, pop-science, level of description of the Higgs boson and it's relationship to particles' masses?
Is this phrasing…
Dave
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Why do we need to "create our own" Higgs boson in order to see one?
I understand that the LHC found the Higgs boson by pumping so much energy into a tiny space (via near light speed proton-proton collisions) that a Higgs boson appeared momentarily, then instantly decayed. They detected the products of the decay, and…
Max Williams
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Why isn't Higgs coupling considered a fifth fundamental force?
When I first learned about the four fundamental forces of nature, I assumed that they were just the only four kind of interactions there were. But after learning a little field theory, there are many other kinds of couplings, even in the standard…
user542
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What is needed to claim the discovery of the Higgs boson?
As I understand the Higgs boson can be discovered by the LHC because the collisions are done at an energy that is high enough to produce it and because the luminosity will be high enough also.
But what is needed to claim a real "discovery" ? I guess…
Cedric H.
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What role does "spontaneous symmetry breaking" play in the "Higgs Mechanism"?
In talking about Higgs mechanism, the first part is always some introduction to the concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB), some people saying that Higgs mechanism is the results of SSB of local gauge symmetry, some people says that we can…
an offer can't refuse
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How does the Higgs mechanism work?
I'm not a particle physicist, but I did manage to get through the Feynman lectures without getting too lost.
Is there a way to explain how the Higgs field works, in a way that people like me might have a hope of understanding?
Mike Dunlavey
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Is the Higgs boson an elementary particle? If so, why does it decay?
The Higgs boson is an excitation of the Higgs field and is very massive and short lived. It also interacts with the Higgs field and thus is able to experience mass.
Why does it decay if it is supposed to be an elementary particle according to the…
user6760
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What happens to matter in a standard model with zero Higgs VEV?
Suppose you reset the parameters of the standard model so that the Higgs field average value is zero in the vacuum, what would happen to standard matter?
If the fundamental fermions go from a finite to a zero rest mass, I'm pretty sure that the…
Mark Adler
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Why are gluons believed to be massless?
Earlier questions under a similar title referred to the short range of the strong force. My question is completely different. I'd like to know why gluons are considered massless in the Standard Model (regardless of the range of the strong force).…
safesphere
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What is the role of the vacuum expectation value in symmetry breaking and the generation of mass?
Consider a theory of one complex scalar field with the following Lagrangian.
$$
\mathcal{L}=\partial _\mu \phi ^*\partial ^\mu \phi +\mu ^2\phi ^*\phi -\frac{\lambda}{2}(\phi ^*\phi )^2.
$$
The potential is
$$
V(\phi )=-\mu ^2|\phi …
Jonathan Gleason
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How does the Higgs Boson gain mass itself?
If the Higgs field gives mass to particles, and the Higgs boson itself has mass, does this mean there is some kind of self-interaction?
Also, does the Higgs Boson have zero rest mass and so move at light-speed?
Mozibur Ullah
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Why you need a graviton when you have the Higgs boson?
Since I studied General Relativity I had this question running on my mind. As I see it (just taking lectures of Quantum Field Theory right now)
"Why you need a gauge boson for gravity when the Higgs brings things mass?"
You know, mass is the cause…
stringparser
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Why don’t photons interact with the Higgs field?
Why don’t photons interact with the Higgs field and hence remain massless?
Aritra De
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Is the Higgs boson not responsible for most mass?
The video "Your Mass is NOT from Higgs Boson?" argues that almost all the mass that we are made of doesn't come interaction with the Higgs field, but rather that most of a nucleus's mass comes from the space between quarks (the quark-gluon…
alex
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Why we don't have macroscopic fields of Higgs bosons or gluons?
Why is it that there exists a classical macroscopic field of photons and gravitons but not that of $Z, W^{\pm}$ bosons, gluons or Higgs boson?
user133658