What is a ‘God Particle’?

Scientists playfully refer to the Higgs boson as the ‘God Particle’, because it is one that is responsible for creation. For things to exist as real, they have to have ‘mass’, or ‘matter’.

We know, all matter is made up of atoms; if you split open an atom you find electrons, protons and neutrons. If you break open a proton or a neutron you will find sub-sub-atomic particles — quarks, leptons and bosons. Quarks and leptons have mass, but bosons are a sort of a force.

There are six types of quarks and another six of leptons (including the electron). Quarks and leptons have mass, so when they combine they form more massive particles, becoming atoms.

If you go deeper, physicists believe that there is no such thing as a particle that is of ‘matter’; all there is, are ‘fields’ — like the electromagnetic field. Particles are ‘excitations’ of the field. Imagine an electronic pointer that glows a point of red light on the screen. If you move the pointer rapidly, you will see not a point but a line. Similarly, particles are like the line — creations of excitations of a field. (This is only to aid understanding, but may not be scientifically accurate.)

Now, how did the particles become ‘things’, that is having ‘mass’? When the universe was created the particles were moving at the speed of light — no mass.

The particle of light, photon, has no mass. Scientists (Higgs) guessed that these particles should have slowed down to have acquired mass. Slowing down means moving through, or ‘interacting with’ another field. Like light slows when passing through glass. They guessed the presence of a field, today called the Higgs field.

It turned out that for the Higgs field to have allowed for interaction by particles, it should have had the presence of another particle. Surprisingly, only the presence of a particle would give the Higgs field a true zero-energy status needed to enable the interaction. This particle is the Higgs boson.

So, Higgs boson gives the Higgs field a property that allows other particles to interact with it (slow down) and thereby acquire a mass. Hence, God Particle.

When was it first created scientifically?

In nature, after the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago. But on July 4, 2012, scientists working with the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, announced the discovery of the Higgs boson.

What is a large Hadron Collider?

It is a machine. With extremely powerful magnets that create a mind-boggling magnetic field, the machine can accelerate protons. Scientists shot two streams of protons from opposite directions so that they smashed against each other when they met. The smash ripped the protons open.

The entrails, including the Higgs boson, spilled out. The Higgs boson lives for a trillionth of a trillionth of second but leaves a signature that can be checked out.

Ten years down the line what do we know about Higgs boson?

The presence of the Higgs boson was predicted in 1964. But its presence was a guess that arose from tomes of mathematics. The only way to make sure it actually exists was to make it in a lab — for seeing is believing.

The problem was how to make it in a lab. Then came the idea of the Large Hadron Collider, a machine that occupies a 27-km long circular tunnel under the Swiss Alps.

Has it helped further our understanding of how our universe was created?

By experimentally proving what was theoretically predicted, the Higgs boson has made scientists more confident of the ‘standard model of physics’ — the physics equivalent of the Periodic Table — which explains creation. But is the understanding of everything complete?

Far from it. There are still many puzzles. For instance, we still don’t know how come we all exist, when matter and anti-matter cancel out each other.

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