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To: VadeRetro
I'm puzzled how the Higgs boson, which creates mass, can be so hard to spot. If mass is everywhere, or at least in every massive particle, why is the Higgs invisible? Is mass made by undetectable, virtual Higgses?

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner.

Just as we need to distinguish the photon from the electromagnetic field, we need to distinguish the Higgs particle from the Higgs field.

We know that the electromagnetic field can be quantized, which is to say, described as an infinite superposition of discrete photons, provided that these photons are virtual (i.e. they operate below the "resolution" of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and are therefore not visible as actual light). Nevertheless, the existence of virtual particles does have a measurable effect on physical phenomena, even if the virtual particles themselves do not possess reality in the same way that the photons in a sunbeam do.

If the Standard Model is correct, then there is a Higgs field that is responsible for the elementary particle masses. The particles interact with that field just as a charged particle might interact with a magnetic field. This field is quantizable, just like an electromagnetic field, and we call the associated quantum particle the Higgs boson. As it turns out, however, this particle isn't massless like a photon or a graviton, but is very heavy--at least 100 times heavier than a proton or neutron.

This tells you right away that the Higgs bosons that give an electron its mass must be virtual. There just isn't enough energy there to make a Higgs boson "real": the Higgs mass is at least 200,000 times heavier than the electron. But the Heisenberg uncertainty principle allows the electron to "borrow" Higgs bosons from the vacuum.

16 posted on 08/17/2002 10:32:04 AM PDT by Physicist
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To: Physicist
Just as we need to distinguish the photon from the electromagnetic field, we need to distinguish the Higgs particle from the Higgs field.

Ohhhh! It vectors a fiieeeeeeeeeeeld!

Thanks. One of the best features of FR is having you around for "Ask Mr. Physicist." Almost as good as Dave Barry's "Mr. Language Person" and no doubt providing a bit better grounded answers.

18 posted on 08/17/2002 10:37:46 AM PDT by VadeRetro
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To: Physicist
... distinguish the photon from the electromagnetic field ... We know that the electromagnetic field can be quantized...

What's the length of a single photon? Pick any energy.

30 posted on 08/18/2002 9:43:32 AM PDT by mikegi
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