Scientists Believe Higgs Boson Has Been Detected
July 5, 2012
Scientists at CERN, Europe’s leading physics laboratory, have announced significant proof of a subatomic particle that may be the long-sought Higgs boson. A boson is any member of a certain class of atomic and subatomic particles. For decades, scientists have searched for the elusive particle, which is believed to give matter its mass. The particle is named for the British physicist Peter Ware Higgs, who posited its existence in 1964.
Mass is an extremely important characteristic of matter. Light is made up of particles called photons, which have no mass. The lack of mass enables photons to move at the fastest possible speed–the speed of light. If the particles that make up matter had no mass, they would also zip across the universe at extremely high speeds. But something provides a drag that prevents matter from doing this, an effect we call mass. Scientists believe that the drag is provided by interactions with Higgs bosons.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) smashes together circulating beams of high-energy particles. Scientists use the LHC to improve their understanding of the behavior of subatomic particles (particles smaller than atoms). (© CERN)
Evidence for the newly discovered particle came from two separate experiments being conducted using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), outside Geneva, Switzerland. The powerful particle accelerator smashes bits of matter together at nearly the speed of light. The LHC scientists will continue working to confirm the results. But the discovery, announced on July 4, has sent ripples of excitement through the scientific community. If the new particle is in fact the Higgs boson, studying it may lead to new answers–and new questions–for our understanding of the nature of matter.
Additional World Book articles:
- Hadron
- Standard Model
- The Dark Side of the Universe (a special report)
- Found—The Top Quark (a special report)
- What Is the Fundamental Nature of Space? (a special report)
