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The infamous Higgs particle has a heavy task : It grant all the other elementary particles their deal . Without it , they — we — would zip around frantically at the speed of luminousness , too substructure - idle to mold atoms . But how does the Higgs do it ?
In stead of equations , physicists tend to explain the physical process in term of sports and syrup .
First , each of the primary particles acquires its unique set of attributes by interacting with invisible entity called fields . Like football game field , these are large leg upon which individuals ( be they electrons or campaign binding ) style this style and that , and occasionally bash together . But unlike football field , the fields of physics are three - dimensional , andextend infinitely in all directions .
One such bailiwick is the electromagnetic ( EM ) field — the kind you may feel near the rod of a red and silverbar attracter , but which actually exists everywhere all the clip . Each particle interact with the EM field of operation in a way that bet on its electric flush . For example , electron , whose charge is -1 , tend to move through the field toward the positively charged ends of bar magnet , and to plunk together with positively charged protons .
Like a play plain with its corresponding ball , each field of physics has a corresponding subatomic particle . The EM discipline , for example , is associated with the photon , or particle of lighting . This correspondence plays out in two way : First , when the EM field is " excited , " meaning its energy is flared up in a certain office , that flash - up is , itself , a photon .
Secondly , when subatomic particle interact with the EM field ( for instance , when they are draw toward the oppositely charge up death of a magnet ) , they receive the arena by absorbing and let loose a ceaseless flow of " practical photons " — photons that momentarily pop in and out of existence just for the design of mediating the particle - field interaction .
There also exist a Higgs line of business . It gives subatomic particle batch . [ How Do You Weigh an Atom ? ]
Except for masless photons and gluon , " all elemental corpuscle get their muckle from their interactions with the [ Higgs ] field , kind of like being ' slowed down ' by passing through a dense syrup , " explain James Overduin , a physicist at Towson University in Maryland .
Some particles have a harder time plod through the syrupy Higgs theatre of operations than others , and as a result , they ’re impenetrable . However , it is n’t known why sealed particles , such as the extremely rotund top quark , are 1000 of time more encumbered by the Higgs subject than are lightweight particles , such as electrons and neutrinos . " Theorists have been searching for some path to really call [ particle ] masses from first principles . No convincing theory has yet emerged , " said John Gunion , author of " The Higgs Hunter ’s Guide " ( Basic Books , 1990 ) and a prof of physics at the University of California , Davis . [ Are There Higgs Bosons in Space ? ]
But here ’s where the Higgs mote come in : Just as the photon intercede interactions with the EM field and is itself an excitation of the EM field of honor , the Higgs particle mediates interactions with the Higgs field , and is itself an excitation of the Higgs theatre of operations .
Particles slog through the Higgs field by exchanging virtual Higgs mote with it . And a real Higgs particle aerofoil when the field becomes emotional , like a slosh of the sirup . detect such a slosh ( i.e. the particle ) is how physicists can be sure the sirup ( i.e. the field of honor ) exist . " You have to get enough muscularity to excite the athletic field so that it looks like a particle to us . Otherwise we do n’t know the playing field is there , " Craig Blocker , a Higgs - track down physicist at Brandeis University , recount Life ’s Little Mysteries .
But because the Higgs particle is extremely high - energy ( or , equivalently , very weighty ) , it ’s problematical to excite the Higgs field enough to produce one . That ’s where the Large Hadron Collider amount in : by smashing together high - speed protons , it generates enough juice to slosh the syrupy Higgs battlefield around now and again , producing Higgs boson .
