Ask Science @lemmy.world Hedup @lemm.ee 1y ago

Does Higgs exist in nature or is it merely artificially synthesized particle?

In nuclear chemistry elements beyond Plutonium do not occur in nature and are synthesized artificially. Is it a similar case for Higgs boson too?

If so, how does it give mass to particles if it doesn't exist? Did scientists create Higgs at LHC in 2011 just to make sure our universe exists through some kind of circular causation?

I'm obviously not understanding this properly. Please dispel my misunderstandings with reasonable explanations!

21 comments

The way I understand it is that it’s a field just as photons are an excitation of the electromagnetic field.

Except that the Higgs interacts with some particles giving them “mass” where they otherwise wouldn’t.

So it “exists” in the sense that there is an all pervasive field that is interacting with other fields/particles.

PBS space time is a great channel for things like this

https://youtu.be/G0Q4UAiKacw

And here’s an easier intro to the topic

https://youtu.be/kixAljyfdqU
The Higgs boson isn't an atom like plutonium, it's "further down". I think of it in levels:

atoms, which are made up of

electrons “orbiting” the nucleus, the nucleus being made up of protons and neutrons. In turn, protons and neutrons are made up of

quarks

Quarks are a kind of elementary particle called fermions, which are at the same level as bosons (and electrons). Down here it's all weird and quantum but in an oversimplified nutshell, it's not so much that they physically exist as that in the maths* we can treat them as existing which makes it easier to think about.

* of the physics models we use

I'm a computer scientist, not a real scientist, so I stand ready to be corrected by those more knowledgable.

edit: @[email protected] is more knowledgable and helped me fix this up a bit.
- The fermions are particles with mass, an electron is already a fundamental fermion and not made up of quarks like protons and neutrons. The fundamental bosons (as far as I know) are particles that "handle" the interactions between other particles for instance gluons enable the strong force, while W and Z Bosons enable the weak force.
  
  I believe the fundamental Higgs boson does occur in nature but likely immediately decays. (if I'm wrong I'd love to know how it actually enables certain interactions in nature)
  
  Also I'm not studying quantum physics so I wouldn't be surprised if someone needs to correct me. :)
  
  Edit: clarified when fundamental fermions/bosons were meant.
  
  Small clarification - the fundamental bosons are the ones that handle particle interactions, whilst fundamental fermions make up matter.
  
  It is however possible to have atoms that are fermions or bosons depending on the total number (even or odd) particles that make them up.
  
  That's true... kinda makes a mess of my simple model 😅
  
  I'll edit in your correction, thanks.
The higgs particle itself isn't important, it's the higgs field that makes the world go 'round. The way I understand it, is the field permeates all of space and time (like all other fields) and the particle appears at places of high disruptions in the field, like what the LHC created.

Now, I'm no PhD, so take this with heaps of salt.
- Yeah, you prove the field exists by exciting it and making it produce quanta, kind of like photons being the quanta of the EM field being excited.
  
  Photons are excitations in the EM field, but they also carry the electromagnetic force between particles - thus giving them charge. But in order to do that photon actually needs to be created and travel from one particle to another. If Higgs works in a similar way also being a boson, one might expect it also to need to exist to do it's job. . What is the difference here?
Particles are just a way of looking at excited quantum fields. The Higgs field is always everywhere, giving things mass.

Honestly, depending on interpretation of quantum mechanics, you don't need to acknowledge particles exist at all. It could all be fields becoming ever more entangled and wrinkled.
- Photons are also bosons, right? Why do we need all the huge energy particle smashing experiment at LHC, while we can get any energy photons everywhere? What's the difference?
Its better to not think of it as something we created in a lab. Higgs plays a part in making nature do what it does.

If you want to learn more about the Higgs Mechanism, check out this video from PBS Space Time. You might also find some good info in the comments as well.

Here is a space article.
Sorry, can't answer your question. Quick correction though, uranium is the highest atomic number that occurs nationally.

Edit: so I'm wrong about this. In school we learned that it was uranium and that's also what it said when I checked sources, but not enough. Apologies.

21 comments