Physicists observe four forces of nature: electromagnetic, strong nuclear, weak nuclear and gravity. The "interesting thing" that the Higgs boson does in the universe relates to a fundamental question of modern physics. Speaking of work: It's the Higgs field, not the Higgs particle, that's doing interesting things in the universe. Machines like the Large Hadron Collider are trying to study the Higgs field, but the only way to do so is to make some Higgs particles (i.e., some slaps in the field) and see how they work. I'm spending a couple of paragraphs making this distinction clear because the hunt for the Higgs boson isn't about the particle itself. Every kind of particle that scientists know of, from the electron to a photon, is associated with its own space-time-filling vibrating field. A single particle is just the minimum possible amount of energy that a field can support. In other words, you can slap a field and make some particles. In this view (and indeed, in reality), particles can be created and destroyed at will, simply by adding or removing energy from the field. This field can take different values at different points in space-time, and each value corresponds to the average number of particles observers see in that patch. No, in the contemporary view of the rules of the universe, the primary physical object is the field, an entity that permeates all of space and time. So right there, the name gives you a hint: Because this particle is called a "boson," it must have something to do with forces.īut modern particle physics isn't really about the particles themselves, and that goes for the Higgs boson, too. Meanwhile, the bosons are the forces between them: photons, gluons and so on. Think electrons, quarks, protons, neutrinos and all their friends. Very, very loosely, you can think of fermions as the building blocks of the everyday world. "Boson" is the term for one of the two kinds of particles in the universe, with the other called a "fermion" (after Enrico Fermi). RELATED: The Higgs Boson Should Have Crushed the Universe Indeed, it references two people, further highlighting the particle's importance: Peter Higgs, who with a bunch of colleagues first proposed the particle back in the 1960s, and Satyendra Nath Bose, who was a pioneering figure in the early days of particle physics. The particle's real name, the Higgs boson, is actually quite informative. I'm sure he thought it was just a cute name (especially since Lederman claims his publisher rejected his original idea of the "God damn Particle"), but the media went crazy with the name, and now it's hard to disentangle the real physics of the Higgs from the hype. Physicist Leon Lederman coined the nickname "God Particle" in the early '90s and used it as the title of his book on the subject. It has a perfectly acceptable name: the Higgs boson. Oh, and physicists don't really care about the particle.įirst, I want to talk about the particle's name. The Higgs boson is indeed an important part of modern physics, but elevating it to the status of a deity seems a bit of a stretch, and the whole "making mass" thing isn't even this particle's most important job.
It doesn't help that the Higgs has the horrible nickname of "the God Particle" and is often described as being "responsible for mass in the universe" or something like that. The Higgs boson and its role in the universe are not the easiest things to explain. He contributed this article to 's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Sutter is also host of Ask a Spaceman, RealSpace and COSI Science Now. But three bogeys on the back nine on Saturday leaves her needing something special on Sunday if she’s to find the winner’s circle for the first time.īrooke Henderson is three-under par and tied for 24th.Paul Sutter is an astrophysicist at The Ohio State University and the chief scientist at COSI science center. Sharp said on Friday after shooting a six-under 65, that her goal for the weekend was to stay out of her own way, and to think about her targets rather than her results. Sharp began the third round with a share of the lead before struggling to a one-over par 72 on Saturday. The 38-year-old Canadian will begin the final round tied for sixth at eight under par, six shots behind leader Jaye Marie Green (-14). So that was good, so yeah.”Īlena Sharp will be looking for her first career LPGA victory on Sunday in Texas at the Volunteers of America Classic. “Yeah, I think the first time I noticed I was in the top 10 was on 16 green after I just shanked it into the water. “I’m not really a big scoreboard watcher,” he said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.
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