APOD: Higgs Boson Explained by Cartoon (2012 May 01)

[APOD Robot]

Higgs Boson Explained by Cartoon

Explanation: The physics community is abuzz that a fundamental particle expected by the largely successful Standard Model of particle physics may be soon be found by the huge Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Europe. The term boson refers to a type of fundamental particle with similarities to the photon, while Higgs refers to Peter Higgs, a physicist who among others published research predicting the mechanism through which such a particle might act. The above animated cartoon explains in humorous but impressive detail why the Higgs boson is expected, and one method that the Large Hadron Collider is using to find it. Although some rumors hint that preliminary traces of the Higgs boson are already being found, even not finding this unusual particle would open the door to a new fundamental understanding of how our universe works.

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[Beyond]

Hmm... It certainly seems evident that someone around here likes puddy tats, even if they're not finding anything.

[Ann]

I think bystander has posted this before. That's fine, and I like the video.

Ann

[bystander]

I think bystander has posted this before. That's fine, and I like the video.

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=28368

[anuradha bhagwat]

The animation is good one, but I needed scrolling often. Also the sound quality is poor, infact if this was recorded in a cafeteria, I think I could hear a fly buzzing too!

[inertnet]

The explanation is very interesting, but very hard to follow because of the background noise. In fact after the first couple of seconds I really wanted to stop watching because it was impossible to understand what this person was saying.

[Guest]

I thought it was a really clear explanation of some difficult concepts. I was listenening in a quiet room and didn't find the noise distracting.
The pace was good - I didn't get bored!

[Indigo_Sunrise]

This link is fabulous!

Great APOD!

[Moonlady]

I am overly exited about things I hardly understand

Since not everybody is signed in and could watch this Apod Vid in the discussion section, its ok to post it!

Thanks for the rap vid link!

[MountainJim]

It would be nice if it played a little faster

[vstill]

For those, like myself, who are unable to play the video at APOD's site, go to http://vimeo.com/41038445. For unknown reasons Vimeo videos never play for me unless they are played at the Vimeo website. It would have been helpful to include a link to the Vimeo web address.

[owlice]

"above animated cartoon" in the APOD text links to the video on Vimeo.

[JohnTheWysard]

A Higgs boson came into a Catholic Church one Sunday morning.

"Get out! We don't want your kind here! You claim to be 'The God Particle' - that's blasphemous!" shouted the priest.

The boson mildly replied, "But if I leave, then how will you be able to have mass?"

[Boomer12k]

Suggestion: Next time have him sit in a nice, quiet office and tell the information.....it would have been nice to hear what he had to say....as it is.....


:---[===] *

[Boomer12k]

Three Higgs Bosons walk into a saloon in the Old West...
The bartender said, "We don't serve yer kind here"....
The Higgs Bosons drew their six shooter and shot the up the saloon....
When the dust and debris settled, the bartender said, "Well belly up to the bar boys, name yer poison!"....

:---[===] *

[AW_from_EB]

I was following the cartoon up until he said that the question about the Higgs field translates into a search for the Higgs particle. What does this mean? If everything with mass is interacting with the Higgs field at all times, and the existence of the field implies the existence of the particle, then why do you need such high energies to see it? The photon carries the electromagnetic force, which we also experience all the time, and we don't need esoteric equipment to detect photons. Gravity is just as ordinary, so why does detecting the Higgs particle require thousands of scientists and billions of dollars?

Thank you in advance for your help!

[bystander]

The Higgs boson, force carrier for the Higgs field (mass), should not be confused with the graviton, force carrier for gravity.

I'm not sure, but it seems to me, the weaker the force, the higher the energy needed to detect the force carrier.

[neufer]

The Higgs boson, force carrier for the Higgs field (mass), should not be confused with the graviton, force carrier for gravity.

I'm not sure, but it seems to me, the weaker the force, the higher the energy needed to detect the force carrier.

The lightest fermion: the electron neutrino
is only strongly coupled to the heaviest (non Higgs) gauge boson/force: the Z boson
(although it is also weakly coupled to massless gravitons).

The heaviest gauge boson: the Higgs boson
is only coupled to a zero mass gauge boson/force: the graviton
(although it is also coupled to itself).

Other than that there is not a very clear cut relationship IMO
(; e.g., gluons & gravitons are both massless self coupled particles
while the Higgs boson is a massive self coupled particle).

[AW_from_EB]

Thanks for the reply. If the Higgs field gives mass, and if something has mass it automatically has gravitational pull on other objects with mass, then what is the difference between the Higgs field and gravity? Also, has the graviton been discovered/detected or just hypothesized to account for the gravitational force?

Thanks again.

[neufer]

If the Higgs field gives mass, and if something has mass it automatically has gravitational pull on other objects with mass, then what is the difference between the Higgs field and gravity?

The coupling strength of Higgs bosons far exceeds that of gravitons.

Also, gravitons are coupled to massless particles like photons and electron neutrinos.
(When a photon's path is bent by the sun the sun's path is also bent by the photon.)

Also, has the graviton been discovered/detected or just hypothesized to account for the gravitational force?

<<Unambiguous detection of individual gravitons, though not prohibited by any fundamental law, is impossible with any physically reasonable detector. The reason is the extremely low cross section for the interaction of gravitons with matter. For example, a detector with the mass of Jupiter and 100% efficiency, placed in close orbit around a neutron star, would only be expected to observe one graviton every 10 years, even under the most favorable conditions. It would be impossible to discriminate these events from the background of neutrinos, since the dimensions of the required neutrino shield would ensure collapse into a black hole. However, experiments to detect gravitational waves, which may be viewed as coherent states of many gravitons, are underway (e.g., LIGO and VIRGO). Although these experiments cannot detect individual gravitons, they might provide information about certain properties of the graviton. For example, if gravitational waves were observed to propagate slower than c (the speed of light in a vacuum), that would imply that the graviton has mass.>>

[Markus Schwarz]

I was following the cartoon up until he said that the question about the Higgs field translates into a search for the Higgs particle. What does this mean? If everything with mass is interacting with the Higgs field at all times, and the existence of the field implies the existence of the particle, then why do you need such high energies to see it? The photon carries the electromagnetic force, which we also experience all the time, and we don't need esoteric equipment to detect photons. Gravity is just as ordinary, so why does detecting the Higgs particle require thousands of scientists and billions of dollars?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Maybe the following analogy helps: Think of the Higgs field as some kind of "sirup", penetrating all of space. When particles are swimming (traveling) through this sirup, some are more influenced (or "slowed down") than others. Since their propagation is hindered, they gain "inertial" mass; the more so the more they are affected by the "sirup". Particles like the photon down feel the effect at all and are massless. The Higgs field interacts with itself, and therefore also has a mass.

The Higgs field as a constant value throughout space. Like you can create waves on a quiet lake by throwing a stone into the lake, you can also locally excite the Higgs field "sirup". Now, since the Higgs field has mass, the energy needed to "dent" the "sirup" and create such a "wave" must at least be the same as the mass of the Higgs field. The resulting "wave" is what we see as the Higgs particle. The "stones" correspond to the protons in the LHC.

It is the acceleration of particles to such high energies that requires all these huge expansive machines.

The source of gravity, on the other hand, is not mass but energy density (plus some other things). In fact, most of the "gravitational" mass of Earth is NOT due to the Higgs masses of electrons and quarks (the fundamental constituents of atoms), but comes from the energy that bind the quarks to the proton. Since the gravitational force is tiny in particle physics experiments, it is save to neglect it. However, truly combining particle physics and gravity is an open problem.

[AW_from_EB]

Markus: Thank you very much to taking the time to respond. Your analogy was very helpful in better understanding why the Higgs particle is so difficult to detect and why our everyday experience of gravity isn't really relevant to understanding the meaning of the Higgs field and particle.

[neptunium]

The food at the beginning of the video looks fantastic!
I liked the drawings that were made, too. They really help explain the Higgs Boson.