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My question is, the fields in the standard model interact with each other, and when we are able to manipulate some of them through different engineered devices, we can transform the energy field into that of another, and generate processes that do not spontaneously happen on nature, in most cases we use this trick to manipulate the world around us.

My question is if there would be any kind of application that comes to mind if we were able to manipulate the higgs field, or the inflaton field (that must be still be around I guess) in the same way. Or the fact that these are scalar fields somehow forbid us from doing that? (assume that we are a super advanced civilization and the amount of energy we can manipulate is unbounded fro any practical purposes.

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  • $\begingroup$ if you do not like the question or do not know the answer, could you at least leave the question open for two days so I can put a bounty on it? thanks $\endgroup$
    – user83548
    Commented Jun 18, 2016 at 20:55
  • $\begingroup$ do you mean things like, for instance, to use the inflaton field to expand or contract space around us? $\endgroup$
    – user65081
    Commented Jun 18, 2016 at 21:01
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    $\begingroup$ This has precisely the same problem as physics.stackexchange.com/questions/262976/…. It starts 'assume the existence of some arbitrary and undefined ability' and goes on to ask about the consequences of that assumption. $\endgroup$
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Commented Jun 18, 2016 at 21:07
  • $\begingroup$ @dmckee I believe there are models of the higgs field, I do not know about the inflaton $\endgroup$
    – user65081
    Commented Jun 18, 2016 at 21:08
  • $\begingroup$ The answer is pretty clearly no. I don't want to answer this officially because it is difficult to address in a way. The Higgs field is scalar field the forms a condensate at lower energy that couples with other particles. The Higgs particle that is produced is a "left over," and only exists for about $10^{-25}$ seconds before decaying. The other three Goldstone boson components are absorbed into other particles. It is not really an energy source or anything of that form. $\endgroup$
    – Lawrence B. Crowell
    Commented Jun 19, 2016 at 0:11

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Some care is needed when talking about quantum fields because they are a mathematical formalism for describing the properties of particles, and it is unclear to what extent a quantum field can be regarded as a physical object.

Many of us are guilty of sloppy terminology such as the energy of a quantum field or transfer of energy betweebn quantum fields. When you see apparently sane physicists using phrases like these it's easy to imagine the quantum field as a real object that can have energy like any other object, but this is a dangerous path to follow. A quantum field is an operator field i.e. it is the field whose value at a point in spacetime is a mathematical function called an operator, not a physical quantity.

So a phrase like manipulate a quantum field is completely meaningless. The nearest we can get to this idea is to exploit the properties of a quantum field. But this apparently seductive idea is in reality an unglamorous process because it just describes the everyday properties of particles. The computer I'm typing this on exploits the properties of electrons, and therefore it exploits the properties of the electron field.

The Higgs field seems exotic and mysterious, and it's natural to wonder what wonderous properties future scientists might be able to exploit to their benefit. Sadly the reality is that the Higgs field differs from the everyday fields only in that the energy of its quanta are far greater than encountered in everyday life. That's why it takes a massive accelerator to create Higgs bosons. There are esoteric phenomena associated with the Higgs field - for example there is a Higgs force mediated by Higgs bosons - however this is just a short range force, well understood, and actually rather boring.

Science fiction is replete with wonderous technologies based on manipulation of anything and everything that is exotic, up to and including M theory, but real life is rather more prosaic. We understand quantum field theory very well, and it doesn't seem likely there are enormous surprises awaiting us in its more obscure corners. Obviously Clarke's first law applies here, and it would take a brave physicist to claim there are no such applications. However even a timid physcist would state confidently that there there are no such applications on the horizon.

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