Higgs boson, one of the fundamental particles in the standard table, which sought to give mass to all the other particles having mass, is one of the greatest mysteries in the field of physics which has raised more questions than the ones it solved.
This particle was theorized by Professor Peter Higgs in the 20th century as a solution to the Einstein’s Field equations where he theorized that there exists an everlasting field present around us called the Higgs Field which gives rise to a particle known as Higgs Boson which gives mass to all the particles which interact with it. This theory received part support part criticism by the physicists of that time as the discovery of Higgs boson supported the theory of Big Bang that the universe came from a point of nothingness and nothing existed before the Big Bang.
In July 2012, an urgent meeting of scientists was called by the scientists at CERN where they confirmed the discovery of Higgs Boson particle and explained how it served as basis of the understanding of the first very few seconds just after the Big Bang [1/trillionth of a second]. This discovery confirmed that the Big Bang Theory is true and that Higgs particle exists in the universe. This opened as a window for the other potential theories like Can we discover the graviton particle [the hypothesized particle which acts as a carrier of gravitational waves]?,Is standard model of particle physics?, what existed before the big bang?, Which type of particles existed at the time when the present universe hadn’t formed etc.
There could be so much more to the understanding of Higgs Boson particle as it could explain the dark matter conjecture and what makes it so abundant in the universe [as the dark matter has mass, it could have gotten it’s mass from a dark Higgs Boson]. There are endless possibilities to this.
Written by
Science Communicator
Sukhjit Singh