HIGGS PARTICLE


A Higgs particle is a hypothetical, electrically neutral, spin-0, and unstable particle thought to convey mass to all other massive (those with non-zero mass) particles. It is a boson, and therefore a force-carrying particle, but is not considered to be a force as such. The Higgs particle, if it exists, will have a mass, of between 95GeV and 220GeV. The Higgs field is a non-zero scalar field that permeates all of space. [Scalar fields have just one value at each point in space]. It has the effect of slowing down certain other particles, as if they were travelling through a viscous liquid. The Higgs field is accompanied by a sea of virtual Higgs particles. Virtual Higgs particles are attracted to ordinary particles travelling through the Higgs field, creating a drag force which slows the ordinary particles down in a manner as if they had mass. It is in wading through these virtual Higgs particles that ordinary particles are thus bestowed with the illusion of inertia, or mass. The Higgs field does not slow down photons, therefore it does not bestow them with any mass. Particles which interact strongly with the Higgs field are slown down the most and granted the most mass, whilst those that interact weakly are lighter. The top quark interacts most strongly with Higgs particles and is the heaviest known particle; about as heavy as an atom of gold. The Z+ and Z- particles of the weak force also interact very strongly with the Higgs particles, but they are bosons. The Higgs field is self-referral, it slows itself down awarding itself with a great deal of mass, much more than that of a top quark. A massive particle travelling at very high energy through the Higgs field can create a real Higgs particle, which will then decay with a particular signature. The Higgs particle is unique and like no other particle. Only photons and gluons do not interact with the Higgs particle, both bosons themselves.

Experiments have been underway ever since the Higgs particle was first postulated in the early 1960's. It was then beleived it would be found with a mass just over about 10GeV. Since then the mass estimate of the Higgs particle has been pushed higher and higher with each generation of ever more powerful accelerators that have looked for it. It is now hoped it will be found in 2007 when the next generation of accelerator is built. Theorists now believe its' mass should be less than 220GeV. It has now been measured at 125.05 GeV, which is less than that of the Top Quark at 173.1 GeV (being the heaviest particle of the Standard Model, even counting the Z boson (91.19 GeV) and the W boson (80.39 GeV).

A possible mode of decay for the Higgs particle, if it exists, is to decay into a either a pair of Z-particles, Z+ and Z-, or a pair of the chargeless W and W*, all being carriers of the weak force. These two would then in turn decay very shortly afterwards into possibly top quarks, gluons and other heavy particles, which themselves subsequently decay into two jets of more ordinary particles.

Personally speaking, because of the recursive nature of the Higgs boson in not only conferring mass to some other particles, but also to itself, I think it will never be found as an existing entity in its own right. How much mass would it give itself? I think infinite mass, therefore it will never be seen as a real particle; only as a virtual particle will it affect other particles.

Left-handed [and right-handed? neutrinos]
All particles have left-handed and right-handed forms, except neutrinos. Left-handed particles spin anti-clockwise along the direction of motion. Theory says that a Higgs particle changes a left-handed particle into a right-handed one after it has interacted with it, and is the only way that a left-handed particle can become it's right-handed equivalent, which is otherwise impossible. In the standard theory, all neutrinos are left-handed, there are no right-handed neutrinos. [Conversely, all anti-neutrinos are right-handed, there are no left-handed ones]. The implication being that because there are no left-handed neutrinos, then neutrinos must be massless, because otherwise the Higgs particle would change them into their (non-existent) right-handed counterpart bestowing them with mass. However, we now know that neutrinos are not totally massless, and that the three types of neutrino, electron-, mu-, and tau-neutrinos have non-zero and progressively greater (but still very small) masses. This might mean that neutrinos may indeed have right-handed counterparts which have so far escaped detection because they are lighter still than the left-handed form and interact with the Higgs field even less, but the asymmetry between left-handed and right-handed forms is worrying. Or another possibility is that the right-handed form may be able to move in more than the standard four dimensions of space-time. Extra curled-up dimensions arise out of string theory, and if the right-handed neutrinos moved in any of these other dimensions, we would never see them. By experiment, the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory has determined the maximum size of any additional dimension as being 0.84 micrometres. Other theorists believe that the neutrino, besides oscillating between the three types electron-, mu- and tau-neutrinos, oscillates between left and right-handed forms. But that the right-handed forms are exceptionally heavy and thus last for an exceptionally short time. The left-handed forms are nearly massless, and it is the average time that the neutrino spends between left- and right-handed forms that gives them an overall small, but non-zero mass. The massive right-handed form may even be part of the mysterious 'dark matter' that holds galaxies together. See Majorana Neutrinos. The Instanton can also change the handed-ness of a chiral particle.

For Quantum Entangled Higgs Boson interpretation of confering mass.