Higgs boson

The Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle, is an <a href="/facts/Elementary_particle/CTFDM97U">elementary particle</a> in the <a href="/facts/Standard_Model/LhVGf9ow">Standard Model</a> of <a href="/facts/Particle_physics/YgIuyj2t">particle physics</a> produced by the <a href="/facts/Excited_state/czcLYNnr">quantum excitation</a> of the Higgs field, one of the <a href="/facts/Field_(physics)/FJdAKeRA">fields</a> in <a href="/facts/Particle_physics/YgIuyj2t">particle physics</a> theory. In the Standard Model, the Higgs particle is a massive <a href="/facts/Scalar_boson/2rM7TQBu">scalar boson</a> that <a href="/facts/Coupling_(physics)/Pg2Yg0Tz">couples</a> to (interacts with) particles whose mass arises from their interactions with the Higgs Field, has zero <a href="/facts/Spin_(physics)/4Jvp7e8P">spin</a>, even (positive) <a href="/facts/Parity_(physics)/emSbJ4hD">parity</a>, no <a href="/facts/Electric_charge/xxsBfmlB">electric charge</a>, and no <a href="/facts/Color_charge/aWS1xsCR">colour charge</a>. It is also very unstable, <a href="/facts/Particle_decay/3koAz34P">decaying</a> into other particles almost immediately upon generation.
The Higgs field is a <a href="/facts/Scalar_field/8MtPTGob">scalar field</a> with two neutral and two electrically charged components that form a complex <a href="/facts/Doublet_(physics)/R5Lr3xtg">doublet</a> of the <a href="/facts/Weak_isospin/uxsGzgFH">weak isospin</a> SU(2) symmetry. Its "<a href="/facts/Spontaneous_symmetry_breaking/VmXqNLlo">sombrero potential</a>" leads it to take a nonzero value everywhere (including otherwise empty space), which <a href="/facts/Spontaneous_symmetry_breaking/VmXqNLlo">breaks</a> the <a href="/facts/Weak_isospin/uxsGzgFH">weak isospin</a> symmetry of the <a href="/facts/Electroweak_interaction/QATz4dYF">electroweak interaction</a> and, via the <a href="/facts/Higgs_mechanism/Vs5Cbxyy">Higgs mechanism</a>, gives a rest mass to all massive elementary particles of the Standard Model, including the Higgs boson itself. The existence of the Higgs field became the last unverified part of the Standard Model of particle physics, and for several decades was considered "the central problem in particle physics".
Both the field and the <a href="/facts/Boson/XtPFcjb5">boson</a> are named after physicist <a href="/facts/Peter_Higgs/zGvqlC99">Peter Higgs</a>, who in 1964, <a href="/facts/1964_PRL_symmetry_breaking_papers/MHMxGx0Y">along with five other scientists</a> in three teams, proposed the <a href="/facts/Higgs_mechanism/Vs5Cbxyy">Higgs mechanism</a>, a way for <a href="/facts/Mass_generation/WbfM3TN9">some particles to acquire mass</a>. All fundamental particles known at the time should be massless at very high energies, but fully explaining how some particles gain mass at lower energies had been extremely difficult. If these ideas were correct, a particle known as a scalar boson (with certain properties) should also exist. This particle was called the Higgs boson and could be used to test whether the Higgs field was the correct explanation. 
After a <a href="/facts/Search_for_the_Higgs_boson/SGnvLGk0">40-year search</a>, a subatomic particle with the expected properties was discovered in 2012 by the <a href="/facts/ATLAS_experiment/hqWY5WQD">ATLAS</a> and <a href="/facts/Compact_Muon_Solenoid/zrdCWwVk">CMS</a> experiments at the <a href="/facts/Large_Hadron_Collider/XWJCFSqT">Large Hadron Collider</a> (LHC) at <a href="/facts/CERN/y1gwRchm">CERN</a> near <a href="/facts/Geneva/14gXxjcq">Geneva</a>, Switzerland. The new particle was subsequently confirmed to match the expected properties of a Higgs boson. Physicists from two of the three teams, Peter Higgs and <a href="/facts/Fran%25C3%25A7ois_Englert/nNbs7PxG">François Englert</a>, were awarded the <a href="/facts/Nobel_Prize_in_Physics/o6w1nCbr">Nobel Prize in Physics</a> in 2013 for their theoretical predictions. Although Higgs's name has come to be associated with this theory, several researchers between about 1960 and 1972 independently developed different parts of it.
In the media, the Higgs boson has often been called the "God particle" after the 1993 book <a href="/facts/The_God_Particle_(book)/XTQHt6LN">The God Particle</a> by Nobel Laureate <a href="/facts/Leon_Lederman/3UT17nBB">Leon Lederman</a>. The name has been criticised by physicists, including Peter Higgs.

Higgs boson open-in-new

Higgs boson