A particle that emerges from the theoretical mechanism that is thought to give other particles mass.
2
votes
0answers
188 views
Has CERN recently found evidence for a Z-prime boson?
In the recent Higgs seminar at 73:38 Guido Tonelli the spokesman for CMS, makes a mistake and refers to a Z-prime in a context that would imply that they see them frequently. He swiftly backpedals ...
5
votes
1answer
237 views
Which collision energy at LHC is better for hunting 125 GeV Higgs, 7 TeV, 8 TeV or 14 TeV?
Increasing collision energy in hadron collders doesn't always improve the abiilty to hunt down the Higgs. I know that if the Higgs mass is just above LEP exclusion, then even 7 TeV is too high to be ...
-6
votes
1answer
136 views
Why search for theoretical particle? [closed]
Just out of curiosity, is there any special purpose in human life, the search for some theoretical particle for its uncertain benefit, to prove theory of everything which doesn't serve any advancement ...
5
votes
2answers
141 views
How should one combine the uncertainties from the ATLAS and CMS measurements?
First off, a naive theorist question - How are measurements divided between the different detectors at the LHC? I would imagine that for a short run time, say, the CMS detector is active and all the ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views
Higgs boson and string theory
Assuming Higgs is found at 125 GeV.Is there any direct or indirect consequence on string theory ? Will it be a blow to string theory or models employing string theory ?
...
3
votes
1answer
467 views
What's the Standard Model width of a 125 GeV Higgs?
There's a fairly broad mass spread in the new results out of Atlas and CMS. I'm curious how this fits with the expected SM width.
1
vote
1answer
155 views
Are there any models for two light Higgs?
The LHC results today seem to have two possible Higgs peaks, one at 119 GeV and the other at 125-126 GeV. All the multi-Higgs supersymmetry models I've seen that have multiple Higgs have only one ...
0
votes
2answers
271 views
Momentum Energy and Higgs
So, as an object accelerates it gains energy. And energy is mass. So an object becomes more massive as it approaches the speed of light.
But, if mass is ONLY due to an object's interaction with the ...
3
votes
1answer
305 views
Higgs Field compared to EM field
So, I've been reading about the Higgs because of all of this excitement lately with the LHC. I'm just a layman in physics but one thing I understood was that the Higgs field permeates all of space ...
6
votes
1answer
97 views
Status of the little hierarchy problem
What is the current thinking on the little hierarchy problem in light of a potential Higgs mass above 120 GeV? A few years ago, at least, I remember various phenomenologists saying that this at least ...
9
votes
2answers
3k views
How does the Higgs mechanism work?
I'm not a particle physicist, but I did manage to get through the Feynman lectures without getting too lost.
Is there a way to explain how the Higgs field works, in a way that people like me might ...
3
votes
4answers
585 views
What if we could give photons some mass?
I was reading an article and these paragraphs got me wondering...
Before I list the replies, here is some background. The Higgs mechanism describes an invisible field that, it is argued, split one
...
2
votes
1answer
334 views
Why does the Higgs field only couple to opposite-chiralities fermions?
According to the Wikipedia page on the Standard Model, the Higgs field interact with fermions through a Yukawa interaction coupling only left to right chiralities. What is the reason for that? Is that ...
6
votes
2answers
341 views
Stablising the Higgs without SUSY
Should the Higgs be found at the LHC, but no supersymmetry (assuming for the sake of argument that the LHC be capable of eliminating all versions of SUSY that are motivated by solving the hierarchy ...
0
votes
0answers
83 views
Masses of all the particles in the Standard Theory [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
If photons have no mass, how can they have momentum?
I'm sure this question has been asked here before but I wasn't able to find it clearly answered in one q/a session. ...
10
votes
2answers
70 views
ATLAS Higgs Interpretation
I came across this abstract, and I am curious as to what the ATLAS Team has actually discovered:
Abstract Motivated by the result of the Higgs boson candidates at LEP with a mass of about ...
3
votes
2answers
554 views
What are the implications for quantum gravity if the LHC sees no higgs?
Following the news in serious "non-hype" physics blogs I`ve learnd that as things are now one needs a lot of patience and more data to learn what happens in the higgs sector.
There are already a ...
12
votes
3answers
688 views
So, no Higgs boson then?
There are a lot of articles being posted in the wake of a CERN announcement that they have not observed the Higgs boson in the range of energies so far searched (between 145 and 466 billion eV), e.g. ...
4
votes
5answers
3k views
The Higgs field a new Luminiferous aether?
As of this writing it has been made clear to me that classical physics' Luminiferous aether was a terriblly poor discriptor of space. With the advent of Special Relativity and General Relativity, that ...
5
votes
1answer
220 views
Why are WW gg ττ branching ratios so similar for a 115 GeV SM Higgs?
In a previous question on Higgs branching ratios, I find this image
(originally from page 15 here).
I am VERY intrigued by the fact that decays to WW, gg, and ττ are almost equally probable, for ...
2
votes
2answers
266 views
Might the LHC see nothing new at all?
There's no guarantee that supersymmetry (or more exotic new physics) will be seen at the LHC. Meanwhile, it's standard lore that a Higgsless standard model becomes nonunitary somewhere in the vicinity ...
7
votes
1answer
194 views
Is there literature on a continuous mass spectrum for the Higgs field?
Various masses for the Higgs field are compatible with experiment, but is it possible that the Higgs field is not observable because it has a continuous mass spectrum?
Work in the 60s and 70s on free ...
4
votes
2answers
408 views
Is the Higgs 3/4 detected already?
Can someone provide an expanded explanation on the statement that the Higgs field is already 3/4 detected?
Link to ref (@nic, sorry I left it off, do a quick search on Higgs to find the right ...
5
votes
3answers
287 views
bound states of massless fields?
Question: are they mathematically possible at all? physically?
with finite mass systems, usually the binding energy contributes to the rest-mass of the system. It would seem that even if you could ...
7
votes
1answer
717 views
How many $fb^{-1}$ for the most likely $5\sigma$ 115 Gev Higgs at the 7 Tev LHC?
How many $fb^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity at the 7 Tev LHC do physicists expect are needed, to make a $5\sigma$ discovery of the most likey 115 Gev Higgs, if it exists?
10
votes
1answer
809 views
115 GeV, 170 GeV, and the noncommutative standard model
Several years ago, noncommutative geometry was used to describe the standard model, somehow yielding a prediction of 170 GeV for the mass of the Higgs boson, a prediction which was falsified a few ...
6
votes
2answers
2k views
Hawking's alternative to Higgs Boson
I have seen in popular media, claims that Hawking does not believe the Higgs boson exists due to microscopic black holes and even made a bet against it. This is based on something published in ...
7
votes
1answer
381 views
Is there a rest frame for the Higgs boson?
If there is a non-zero expectation value for the Higgs boson even in "vacuum", since the Higgs boson has a mass unlike photons, then I would expect it to have a rest frame.
So why doesn't a non-zero ...
9
votes
4answers
816 views
Is there an accepted analogy/conceptual aid for the Higgs field?
Is there an accepted analogy / conceptual aid for the Higgs field?
In Physics there are many accepted conceptual aids such as
* Schrödinger's cat
* Maxwell's Demon
* I'm sure I'm missing ...
4
votes
2answers
480 views
Higgs Boson Mass
The WIKI Higgs boson site has an interesting diagram illustrating likely Higgs mass intervals that experiments (LEP & Tevatron) or indirect measurements have determined with a 95% confidence ...
10
votes
2answers
2k views
Shape of the Higgs branching ratio to ZZ
I've been looking at the, now very popular, graph of the SM Higgs decay branching ratios:
You see that the ZZ branching ratio has a funny dip around the $170\, GeV$, very different from the WW ...
5
votes
2answers
689 views
The contribution to mass from the dynamical breaking of chiral symmetry
The claim is often made that the discovery of the Higgs boson will give us information about the origin of mass. However, the bare masses of the up and down quarks are only around 5 MeV, quite a bit ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Does the equivalence between inertial and gravitational mass imply anything about the Higgs mechanism?
For example: the role it might play in a theory of quantum gravity (ie causing space-time curvature)?
I realize that inertial mass can result from binding energy alone. Has the equivalence principle ...
12
votes
2answers
1k views
Why isn't Higgs coupling considered a fifth fundamental force?
When I first learned about the four fundamental forces of nature, I assumed that they were just the only four kind of interactions there were. But after learning a little field theory, there are many ...
28
votes
4answers
2k views
What is needed to claim the discovery of the Higgs boson?
As I understand the Higg's boson can be discovered by the LHC because the collisions are done at an energy that is high enough to produce it and because the luminosity will be high enough also.
But ...
15
votes
2answers
1k views
If the LHC doesn't find the Higgs Boson, what would be the implications for the Standard Model?
What would be the implications to the Standard Model if the Higgs Boson hadn't been found with the LHC?
Also, if the Higgs Boson had not been found with the LHC, would it have been successfully ...
