The Higgs mechanism is a fundamental process in particle physics that explains how particles gain mass through the breaking of electroweak symmetry. It plays a central role in the Standard Model and is closely associated with the Higgs field and its quantum excitation, the Higgs boson.
Here’s how it works:
- The universe is filled with the Higgs field, a scalar field that has a nonzero value even in empty space.
- In the early universe, the electroweak force was unified, but as the universe cooled, the Higgs field underwent spontaneous symmetry breaking.
- This breaking caused the W and Z bosons (carriers of the weak force) to interact with the Higgs field and gain mass, while the photon remained massless, preserving electromagnetism.
- Other fundamental particles, like quarks and leptons, also gain mass through their couplings to the Higgs field—the stronger the coupling, the heavier the particle.
The discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN in 2012 confirmed this mechanism and filled the last missing piece of the Standard Model.
The Higgs mechanism elegantly unifies the mass generation of particles with the structure of the fundamental forces, showing that mass is not an inherent property, but arises from interactions with a pervasive field.