Higgs boson: A bluffer’s guide PULAU MUCUS To explain how things work ata Bien (felts) ca e-em elated CEO ASO A ECan TS SC) ‘building blocks’ that make up ome (ema niec lem nicoec Films ANGIE ecitelt Mets) According to the to account for the mass of Fb kc \\ fur hla like ee aN) [saan aes Ese recc iim Coes ake) i feat EW ‘as rN blocks that Ha eeu ae CECA CEL (Me) GLEE UTeRuLeel nie ATS TESSAe er ells aN CSV PEC elses ued meee | CTP eeu R CtSi14 eRe Vasa ECO ROM On CHUEiCing UCR a) Tee USEC OEIC Mule Rel eRe tala oie * CRUE lcm eet Protons and neutrons are without mass in the Big Bang. TERE IE Lurene Mega So where mass come from?2: Massive... more or less So the current The lightest particle is the electron. leading theory of The heaviest particle is the top quark, particle physics which weighs about 350,000 times can’t explain more than the electron. where particles Logic would dictate that the iop get their mass. quark must be very muc ut, worse still, it larger than the electron - yet can’t explain why the particles are about the some particles Electron same size. have so much So how can physicists more mass than explain this astonishin other particles difference?RTC Ree eau (eg We know from quantum theory that every field has an associated particle uh Breer melee ALY (olge cee a ele OMe Mesto le Mele transmits the effect of the field to the particle To explain this, a group of physicists, including Peter Higgs, proposed that ret eT RCM otic lccle eae) fae HUE CaCol(ealiralten As particles travel through this ‘Higgs fre ME UAL Cuca Thank you, with itand appear J) co if trom the Private Higgs, ore aire there is field, sir! ute org ut - @ icra Rita) had Ny the field, the |} there an @ Clee] mulls pares be mass. Bie Pe fe = since these force-carriers are called ‘bosons, this is called the Higgs boson Peter Higgs if it sounds odd that an all permeating field is made up of particles, just think of the electromagnetic field. Electromagnetism (x-rays and radio waves through to visible light and gamma rays) is all pervasive yet it is made up of particles - the photon