The biggest and most expensive piece of machinery ever built by humans is tentatively scheduled to begin operation this winter. But what really is the purpose of The Large Hadron Collider? Scientist from all over the world are anxiously waiting for the results of the high energy collisions in hope that they will answer a multitude of questions. There is however, a particular question that seems to top them all.
The Higss Boson
Scientist are hoping to prove the existence of Higgs Boson. The Higgs boson has been dubbed “the god particle” while this is certainly an overstatement of importance of observing the particle, it is the most important result that could come out of the LHC. The Higss boson is predicted by the Standard Model of Particle Physics, but has yet to be observed. This is due to the fact that the Higgs was present moments after the Big Bang. In essence Scientist are hoping to re-create the events that transpired moments after the creation of the Universe, hoping to prove the existence of the Higgs boson.
Why is the Higss Boson so important?
The Standard Model of Particle Physics basically states that for every energy field there must be particle associated with it. One thing that the Standard Model fails to explain is how particles obtain mass. In other words, even with success and accuracy of the Standard Model it is still an incomplete theory. In 1964 Peter Higgs tackled this problem and proposed that the fundamental particles get their mass by interacting with a field now known as Higgs field. This brings some sort completeness into the Standard Model since it allows for mass to be accounted for. However, with every field there must be a particle associated with it, therefore the Higgs boson must exists for scientists to be able to prove that in fact the Higgs field does exist, and that is how particles get their mass.
Implicatons
The discovery of the Higgs boson will allow scientist not only to prove the existance of the Higgs field (or disprove, if the Higss is never observed) but will also allow scientist to study the properties of the Higgs and possibly extend the Standard Model. And most importantly it will allow Scientist to explain why everything in the world has mass. Let’s also not forget the indirect implacations that will come of it, after all CERN is where the world wide web was born.
