recognizing quantum field theory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsVne5KOGcY
recognizing quantum field theory
Particle physics typically has a tough time competing with politics and celeb gossip for headlines, but the Higgs boson has gathered some severe attention. That's exactly what happened on July 4, 2012, though, when scientists at CERN announced that they 'd found a particle that behaved the way they expect the Higgs boson to behave. Maybe the famous boson's grand and controversial nickname, the "God Particle," has kept media outlets buzzing. Then again, the fascinating possibility that the Higgs boson is responsible for all the mass in the universe rather captures the imagination, too. Or maybe we're simply excited to find out more about our world, and we remember that if the Higgs boson does exist, we'll unwind the mystery a little more.

In order to genuinely recognize what the Higgs boson is, however, we need to examine one of the most prominent theories describing the way the cosmos works: the basic model. The model pertains to us by way of particle physics, a field filled with physicists dedicated to decreasing our challenging universe to its a lot of basic building blocks. It's a challenge we've been tackling for centuries, and we've made a lot of progress. First we discovered atoms, then protons, neutrons and electrons, and finally quarks and leptons (more on those later). But the universe doesn't only consist of matter; it also consists of forces that act upon that matter. The basic model has given us more insight into the types of matter and forces than maybe any kind of other theory we have.

Here's the gist of the basic model, which was developed in the early 1970s: Our entire universe is made of 12 different matter particles and four forces [source: European Organization for Nuclear Research] Among those 12 particles, you'll come across six quarks and six leptons. Quarks make up protons and neutrons, while members of the lepton family include the electron and the electron neutrino, its neutrally charged counterpart. Scientists think that leptons and quarks are indivisible; that you can't break them apart into smaller particles. Along with all those particles, the basic model also acknowledges four forces: gravity, electromagnetic, strong and weak.

As theories go, the basic model has been really effective, apart from its failure to fit in gravity. Armed with it, physicists have predicted the existence of certain particles years before they were verified empirically. Regrettably, the model still has another missing piece-- the Higgs boson. What is it, and why is it needed for the universe the basic model describes to work? Let's learn.


Particle physics typically has a tough time competing with politics and celeb gossip for headlines, but the Higgs boson has gathered some severe attention. That's exactly what happened on July 4, 2012, though, when scientists at CERN announced that they 'd found a particle that behaved the way they expect the Higgs boson to behave. Maybe the famous boson's grand and controversial nickname, the "God Particle," has kept media outlets buzzing. In order to genuinely recognize what the Higgs boson is, however, we need to examine one of the most prominent theories describing the way the cosmos works: the basic model.