(Nuclear particles such as protons do not directly rely on the Higgs for their mass, since it arises from the very strong nature of the nuclear force so that the quarks in the proton are confined to a very small volume of space and so have a high energy.) The mass of the electron makes it possible for atoms, as we know them, to form. An electron is relatively light because its interaction with the Higgs field is not very strong – other particles have stronger interactions and are heavier. This effect slows them down and gives them their various masses, depending on how strongly the particles interact with the Higgs field. The Higgs particle is a manifestation of the “Higgs field”, which pervades all of space and “clings” to all the other particles. Otherwise, they would be massless and travel always at the speed of light, which would make for a relatively dull universe. The goal was to provide a means by which the most elementary particles that make up the universe – electrons, quarks and so on – can have mass. The Higgs particle was thought up in the 1960’s, and the ideas were contributed by several theorists including Peter Higgs himself, who works at Edinburgh. The discovery was twenty years in the making and involved very considerable sums of money and large teams of scientists and engineers from all over the world. It required a high energy proton accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, that generated proton beams with enough energy and intensity to produce this very massive object. On July 4, 2012, scientists at the European particle physics laboratory CERN, at Geneva, announced the observation of a new elementary particle which is probably the long-sought “Higgs particle”.
Likely discovery of the Higgs particle at CERNĭr Peter Bussey, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow CiS committee member Rodney Holder shares his thought regarding the newest findings about the Higgs Boson.Īrticle on the Higgs Boson (pdf) (text below) by CiS member and elementary particle physicist Dr Peter Bussey, who outlines what the Higgs boson is and what its discovery means for Christians. Interview with Revd Dr Rodney Holder on Premier Radio. In response to recent findings about the Higgs Boson (or “God Particle”) CiS have collected together one or two responses from our members:
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