What the Higgs boson means for the future of science

 

First of all, the known interactions of the elementary particles fail to account for one of their most crucial properties: mass. Without mass, nature would be very different, as complex structures such as atoms, materials and stars would be unable to form. It was the quest for the origin of mass that was the biggest single motivation for building the LHC. The first theory for producing mass, the Higgs mechanism, was invented nearly 50 years ago in 1964. The idea was that empty space was not really empty but was filled with a field that affected the propagation of particles, giving them mass. It is different from the more familiar electric, magnetic and gravitational fields. These fields result from symmetries and are only generated by sources. But there are some similarities. Oscillations of fields lead to quantum particles: the photon for electric and magnetic fields and the Higgs boson for the Higgs field.

Second, the Higgs boson is different, unlike any other known fundamental particle. All other particles are either matter particles or force carriers, and the Higgs boson is neither of those. For instance, the electrons and quarks are constituents of the atoms, while the photon is the force carrier of the electromagnetic force. The Higgs is not part of the building blocks of the atom, and it also does not mediate a conventional force. The matter and force particles interact in a very simple and beautiful way that is dictated by symmetry and has only one parameter for each force. The Higgs, however, has a plethora of interactions with many parameters. Furthermore, it destroys some of the original symmetries, leading to the observed diversity of particle masses and to the complexity of the structures we see in nature.
Third, if this particle really is a Higgs boson, and it certainly looks like one so far, we are now confronted with the pressing question of the instability of the Higgs field. In the mid-1970s, a very puzzling aspect of the Higgs was discovered; the Higgs field that pervades all space has a tendency to grow in strength, increasing particle masses almost without limit. In other words, the Higgs seems to do its job too well! In some sense, discovering a Higgs boson is a huge relief, as the entire theory of how fundamental particles interact with each other needed a mass-generation mechanism. But in another sense it leads to a huge puzzle: Why aren’t the particle masses much larger?

get answered at genuine:adapted from  DAILY CALIFORNIAN