One of the greatest minds in theoretical physics and Nobel Prize winner, Professor Peter Higgs has died aged 94.
Understanding Universe and astrophysics demand visionary minds. Professor Peter Higgs was one such person to question conventional ideas and bring new theories that changed our understanding about universe. After facing rejections initially, it took 48 years to prove his theory in 2012 in The European Organization for Nuclear Research or CERN. The existence of Higgs Boson particle resolved a long-standing puzzle of how particles interact.
As the great scientist passed away today, we will discuss about some misconceptions about the ‘God Particle’ or ‘Higgs Boson particle’.
Fact: “The masses of fundamental particles come from interactions with the Higgs field,” as mentioned in the paper published by Peter Higgs. This specialized particle is a result of the Higgs field. With the discovery of the Higgs particle, the existence of the Higgs field was confirmed. Scientists were not able to interpret about the mass. However, revolutionary theory of Peter Higgs showed the God Particle or Higgs boson interact with other particles, resulting into mass generation.
Fact: That's certainly not true. Accoryto the theory, the Higgs field creates the mass of about one percent of any observable matter and probably all of dark matter in the universe. Generally, the Higgs field creates mass for quarks. These are the fundamental blocks of protons and neutrons. In turn, these protons and neutrons develop the nuclei at the core of atoms. This eventually form the core structure of any molecules, proteins, cells, plants, and animals. Generally, quarks comprise only one percent of total mass of neutron or proton. The 99% of observable mass comes from the energy to bind proton and neutron.
Whereas, the unobservable mass is about the dark matter. Scientists also believe that Higgs field is responsible for dark matter mass.
Fact: The opposite is true. For many years, it was even wrote by scientists that God Particle or Higgs boson creates the Higgs field. Usually, Higgs field is responsible for the mass of God Particle.
The Higgs Boson particle was discovered on July 4, 2012, by a group of scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European particle physics laboratory CERN, Switzerland. Meanwhile, this is the most powerful particle accelerator globally. This LHC eventually confirmed the presence of the Higgs field and the associated mechanism giving rise to the most important mass.
Fact: This is certainly not true. The Higgs field is not a medium liks aether. It is actually a field of energy. Back in 1900s, scientists started talking about aether while explaining the spreading of light through space. As the understanding of universe gradually grown, scientists dropped this idea. Higgs field is basically an energy field that is uniformly available in the space.
Scientists are still puzzled to solve numerous mysteries associated with Universe. It’s more like an exciting cosmic mystery that scientists are eagerly waiting to be solved!
However, curious minds look for any source of information. You should never believe on these misconceptions.
Stay informed! Stay curious!
