Why higgs matters

Over the years since then, physicists have ticked these particles off, one by one, like items on a shopping list. Now they are left with just one remaining unfound particle — the Higgs boson. Peter Higgs, a theoretical physicist at the University of Edinburgh, came up with the idea of the Higgs field and its associated particle — the Higgs boson — in The field he proposed extends throughout the universe, and interacts with matter particles in such a way as to give them mass.

After an interaction the field leaves behind a telltale sign — the Higgs boson. Finding a Higgs boson would prove that the Higgs field exists. Thousands of people from all around the world — including physicists, engineers and even anthropologists — work at CERN. If a Higgs boson is discovered there, there will be more than a few celebratory glasses of champagne — and an inevitable Nobel prize for Peter Higgs. Elegant though the mathematics is that describes the Higgs mechanism, there is a chance that it does not actually describe nature.

Some Higgsless models use extra dimensions to fix problems that would remain without the Higgs, while others use different mathematical tools. In fact, some physicists are more excited about the prospect of not discovering the Higgs, as this would leave the door open for other solutions that go beyond the standard model, and solve more problems than just the origin of mass.

So there are a few people at least for whom the discovery — or not — of the Higgs would be a momentous occasion. But what about the rest of us? Well, there are many practical reasons to care about the search for the Higgs — if not that actual discovery. From conception through to the first collisions and beyond, particle accelerators spark many technological advancements that can be applied to fields as wide ranging as medicine, sustainable energy development and security.

These advances would never have been made if we were not searching for as yet undiscovered particles like the Higgs.

However, one suspects that spin-off technologies and their economic benefits are not what the physicists at the LHC have in mind while running experiments and trawling data for signs of the Higgs boson. Peter Higgs told the Guardian why he was drawn to theoretical physics in the first place: "It's about understanding! Understanding the world! It is currently the only place scientists can create and study Higgs bosons. They also play leadership roles in many aspects of each experiment.

Scientific terms can be confusing. DOE Explains offers straightforward explanations of key words and concepts in fundamental science. This type of particle science is now commonly referred to as the Standard Theory, in large part because it is the standard for understanding everything from the periodic table to complex chemical processes like fire and metallurgy. Except for one pesky detail…. All of this quantum physics worked perfectly well on paper and proved itself time and time again in the lab and in the real world.

However, it was predicated on the existence of the Higgs Field, which seemed to work in every mathematical model but could not be identified or observed in any existing manner.

So, the electrons and photons you used to see drawn on the whiteboard at school are sort of theoretical nothingness until they pass through the Higgs Field and bind with Higgs Bosons. It is a mind-blowing concept; it essentially states that universal forces like gravity and electromagnetism are actually things , not just the vague, invisible interaction of two things we traditionally think of as tangible.

Scientists have been determined for decades to actually observe the Higgs Boson. The Large Hadron Collider LHC is considered the largest and most complex thing humans have ever built: it has over fifteen miles of underground tunnels and took thousands of physicists from dozens of countries over a decade to finish. It has a staggering amount of computing power and requires massive amounts of energy to operate.

All of this was done with the sole goal of smashing protons together at Everyone is certain that its there, but nobody has ever seen it.