Higg Bosons

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Higgs boson

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Higgs boson

One possible signature of a Higgs boson from a

simulatedcollisionbetween twoprotons. It decays

almost immediately into two jets ofhadronsand two

electrons, visible as lines.[Note 1]

Composition Elementary particle

Statistics Bosonic

Status

Tentatively observed;aboson

"consistent with" the Higgs boson

was observed in July 2012,[1]

and itsbehaviour (up to December 2012)

remains consistent with a StandardModel Higgs boson, but it may take

considerable timeto prove

conclusively whether this particle is

in fact a Higgs boson.[2][3]

Symbol H

Theorised

R. Brout,F. Englert,P. Higgs,G. S.

Guralnik,C. R. Hagen, andT. W. B.

Kibble(1964)

Discovered

Tentatively announced 4 July 2012(see above), by theATLASand

CMSteams at theLarge Hadron

Collider

Mass

125.3 0.4 (stat) 0.5 (sys)GeV/c

2,[4]

126.0 0.4 (stat) 0.4

(sys) GeV/c2[5]
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Mean lifetime1.5610

s

ote(predicted in the

Standard Model)

Electric charge 0

Color charge 0

Spin 0

The Higgs boson orHiggs particle is anelementary particlepredicted almost 50 years ago to

exist by theStandard Modelofparticle physics. In 2012 a previously unknown boson wasdiscovered; its properties arestill being studiedin 2013 to confirm whether or not it is the Higgs

boson.[6][7]

Proof that the Higgs boson exists would be monumental[8][9]

since it would finally

prove the existence of the Higgs field,[10][11]

the Standard Model's explanation ofwhy some

fundamental particles have masswhen 'naive' theory says they should be massless, and - linkedto this - why theweak forcehas a much shorter range than theelectromagnetic force. Its

discovery would validate the final unconfirmed part of the Standard Model, guide other theories

and discoveries in particle physics, andas with other fundamental discoveries of the past

potentially over time lead to developments in"new" physics,[12]

and new technology.

Thisunanswered questionin fundamental physics is of such importance[10][11]

that it led to adecades-long searchfor the Higgs boson and finally the construction of one of the most

expensive and complex experimental facilitiesto date, theLarge Hadron Collider[13]

able to

create and study Higgs bosons and related questions. On 4 July 2012, two separate experimentalteams at the Large Hadron Collider announced that they had each independently confirmed the

existence of a previously unknown particle with a mass between 125 and 127GeV/c2which

physicists suspect is the Higgs boson,[9]

and whose known behaviour (up to December 2012)

closely matches a Standard Model Higgs boson.

The Higgs boson is named afterPeter Higgs, one ofsix physicists who, in 1964, proposedthemechanismthat suggested such a particle. Although Higgs' name has become ubiquitous in thistheory, the resulting electroweak model (the final outcome) involved several researchers between

about 1960 and 1972, who each independently developed different parts. In mainstream media

the Higgs boson is often referred to as the "God particle," froma 1993 book on the topic; thesobriquet is strongly disliked by many physicists, who regard it as inappropriate

sensationalism.[14][15]

In the Standard Model, the Higgs particle is abosonwith nospin,electric charge, orcolor

charge. It is also very unstable,decayinginto other particles almost immediately. It is aquantum

excitationof one component of the four component Higgs fieldascalarfieldwith two neutral

and two electrically charged components that forms a complexdoubletof theweak isospinSU(2)symmetry. The field has a "Mexican hat" shaped potential with nonzero strength

everywhere (including otherwise empty space) which in itsvacuum statebreaks the weak isospin

symmetry of the electroweak interaction. When this happens, three components of the Higgsfield are "absorbed" by the SU(2) and U(1)gauge bosons(the "Higgs mechanism") to become

the longitudinal components of thenow-massiveW and Z bosonsof theweak force. The

remaining electrically neutral component separately couples to other particles known asfermions(viaYukawa couplings), causing these toacquire massas well. Some versions of the theory
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predict more than one kind of Higgs fields and bosons.Alternative "Higgsless" modelswould

need to be considered if the Higgs boson is not discovered.

Contents

1 Non-technical overviewo 1.1 "Higgs" terminology

2 Significanceo 2.1 "Real world" impacto 2.2 Scientific impact

3 Historyo 3.1 Summary and impact of the PRL papers

4 Theoretical propertieso 4.1 Theoretical need for the Higgso 4.2 Properties of the Standard Model Higgso 4.3 Productiono 4.4 Decayo 4.5 Alternative models

5 Experimental searcho 5.1 Search prior to 4 July 2012o 5.2 Discovery of new bosono 5.3 Subsequent developmentso 5.4 Current status of the 125 GeV particle

6 Public discussiono 6.1 Naming

6.1.1 Names used by physicists 6.1.2 Nickname 6.1.3 Other proposals

o 6.2 Media explanations and analogieso 6.3 Recognition and awards

7 Technical aspects and mathematical formulation 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links

o 12.1 Popular science, mass media, and general coverageo 12.2 Significant papers and other

Non-technical overview

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please helpimprove this

articlebyadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may bechallenged

andremoved.(July 2012)
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Standard model of particle physics

Large Hadron Collidertunnel atCERN

Background[show]

Constituents[show]

Limitations[show]

Scientists[show]

v t e

Inparticle physics,elementary particlesand forces give rise to the world around us. Nowadays,physicists explain the behaviour of these particles and how they interact using theStandard

Modela widely accepted and "remarkably" accurate[16]:22

framework based ongaugeinvarianceandsymmetries, believed to explain almost everything in the world we see, other than

gravity.[17]

But by around 1960 all attempts to create a gauge invariant theory for two of the fourfundamental forceshad consistently failed at one crucial point: although gauge invariance

seemed extremely important, including it seemed to make any theory ofelectromagnetismandtheweak forcego haywire, by demanding that either many particles withmasswere massless or

that non-existent forces and massless particles had to exist. Scientists had no idea how to get past

this point.
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Work done onsuperconductivityand"broken" symmetriesaround 1960 led physicistPhilip

Andersonto suggest in 1962 a new kind of solution that might hold the key.In 1964 a theory

was created by 3 different groups of researchers, that showed the problems could be resolved ifan unusual kind offieldexisted throughout the universe. It would cause existing particles to

acquire massinstead of new massless particles being formed. By 1972 it had been developed into

a comprehensive theory and proved capable of giving"sensible" results. Although there was notyet any proof of such a field, calculations consistently gave answers and predictions that wereconfirmed by experiments, including very accuratepredictions of several other particles,

[Note 3]so

scientists began to believe this might be true and to search for proof whether or not a Higgs field

exists in nature.

If this field did exist, this would be a monumental discovery for science and human knowledge,

and is expected to open doorways to new knowledge in many fields. If not, then other morecomplicated theories would need to be explored. The easiest proof whether or not the field

existed was by searching for a new kind ofparticleit would have to give off, known as "Higgs

bosons" or the "Higgs particle" (afterPeter Higgswho first predicted them in 1964). These

would be extremely difficult to find, so it was only many years later that experimentaltechnology became sophisticated enough to answer the question.

While several symmetries in nature are spontaneously broken through a form of the Higgs

mechanism, in the context of the Standard Model the term "Higgs mechanism" almost always

means symmetry breaking of theelectroweak field. It is considered proven, but the exact cause

has beenexceedingly difficult to prove. The Higgs boson's existence would finally after 50 yearsconfirm that the Standard Model is essentially correct and allow further development, while its

non-existence would confirm that other theories are needed instead.

"Higgs" terminology

[hide] A simple explanationwhat are the Higgs mechanism, field and boson?

Symmetries

andforces

In the Standard Model,fundamental forcesarise from laws of nature called

symmetries, and aretransmitted by means of particlesknown asgauge

bosons. The symmetry governing theweak forceis expected to lead to theweak force having massless gauge bosons, but experiments show that the

weak force only acts over a very short range, implying its gauge bosons

(calledW and Z bosons) have a large mass.[Note 4]

This posed a difficulttheoretical problem.

Higgs

mechanism

Some symmetry laws only fully apply under specific conditions.ote

This

means that circumstances could exist, in theory, wherea given symmetrylaw might not be followed. The Higgs mechanism is an explanation of why

and how gauge bosons for an interaction could be massive if the conditionsrequired by the interaction's symmetry law were 'broken' by an unusual

type offield.

Higgs fieldThe Standard Model states that afield(the Higgs field) exists throughoutspace which breaks certain symmetry laws of theelectroweak

interaction.[Note 6]

The field's existence triggers the Higgs mechanism, and
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therefore the gauge bosons corresponding to these symmetriesthoseresponsible for the weak forceare massive, and consequently have a veryshort range.

[Note 4]

Some years after the original theory, scientists realised that the same field

would also explain, in a different way, why other fundamental constituentsof matter (includingelectronsandquarks) have mass.

Higgs boson

The existence of the Higgs field can be proven bysearching fora matchingparticleassociated with it, which should also existthe "Higgs boson".

Detecting Higgs bosons would automatically prove the Higgs field exists,

and that the Standard Model is essentially correctthe crucial

question.[10][11]

If found, further testing should show which version of thetheory best matches the results of experiments. In 2012, scientists

confirmed that they had found a new particle while searching. They suspect

that it may turn out to be the Higgs boson, but it will take time to be

certain.[6][7]

Various analogieshave also been invented to describe the Higgs field and boson, includinganalogies with well-known symmetry breaking effects such as therainbowandprism,electric

fields, ripples, and resistance affecting some people moving through crowds or some objects

moving throughsyrupormolasses. Analogies based on simple resistance to motion areinaccurate as the Higgs field does not work by resisting motion.

Significance

"Real world" impact

As yet, there are no known immediate technological benefits of finding the Higgs particle.

However observers in both media and science point out that when fundamental discoveries aremade about our world, their practical uses can take decades to emerge, but are often world-

changing when they do.[19][20][21]

A common pattern for fundamental discoveries is for practical

applications to follow later, once the discovery had been explored further, at which point theybecome the basis for social change and new technologies.

For example, in the first half of the 20th century nobody expected thatquantum mechanics

would make possibletransistorsandmicrochips,mobile phonesandcomputers,lasersand

M.R.I. scanners.[22]

Radio waveswere described bytheir co-discovererin 1888 as "an interesting

laboratory experiment" with "no useful purpose" whatsoever,

[23]

and are now used ininnumerable ways (radar,weather prediction,medicine,television,wireless computingand

emergency response),positronsare used in hospitaltomographyscans, andspecialandgeneral

relativitywhich explainblack holesalso enablesatellite-basedGPSandsatellite navigation

("satnav").[22]

Electric powergenerationandtransmission,motors, andlighting, all stemmedfrom previous theoretical work onelectricityandmagnetism;air conditioningandrefrigeration

resulted fromthermodynamics. It is simply impossible to predict how seemingly esoteric

knowledge may affect society in the future.[19][20]
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Other observers highlight technological spin-offs from this and related particle physics activities,

which have already brought major developments to society. For example, theWorld Wide Web

as used today was created by physicists working in global collaborations on particle experimentsat CERN to share their results, and the results of massive amounts of data produced by the Large

Hadron Collider have already led to significant advances indistributedandcloud computing,

now well established within mainstream services.

[21]

Scientific impact

If proven to exist, the Higgs field and evidence of its properties would be extremely significantscientifically, for many reasons. (The Higgs boson's importance is largely that it is able to be

examined using existing knowledge and experimental technology, as a way to confirm and study

the entire Higgs field theory).[10][11]

Proof that the Higgs field and boson do not exist would also

be significant. Its relevance includes:

Validating theStandardModel, or choosing

between extensions andalternatives

Does the Higgs field exist, which fundamentally validates the Standard

Model? If it does, then which more advanced extensions are suggested orexcluded based upon measurements of its properties? What else can welearn about this fundamental field, now that we have the experimental

means to study its behavior and interactions with? Alternatively, if theHiggs field doesn't exist, which alternatives and modifications to theStandard Model are likely to be preferred? Will the data suggest an

extension, or a completely different approach (such assupersymmetryorstring theory)?

Related to this, a belief generally exists among physicists that there islikely to be "new"physics beyond the Standard Modelthe StandardModel will at some point be extended or superseded. The Higgs field

and related issues present a promising "doorway" to understand betterthe places where the Standard Model might become inadequate or fail,and could provide considerable evidence guiding researchers into future

enhancements or successors.

Finding howsymmetrybreakinghappens

within theelectroweakinteraction

Below an extremely high temperature,electroweak symmetry breaking

causes theelectroweak interactionto manifest in part as the short-rangedweak force, which is carried by massivegauge bosons. Without this, theuniverse we see around us could not exist, becauseatomsand other

structures could not form, and reactions in stars such as ourSunwouldnot occur. But it is not clear how this actually happens in nature. Is the

Standard Model correct in its approach, and can it be made more exactwith actual experimental measurements? If not the Higgs field, then

what is breaking symmetry in its place?

Finding how certain

particlesacquire mass

Electroweak symmetry breaking (due to a Higgs field or otherwise) isbelieved proven responsible for the masses of fundamental particles such

as elementaryfermions(includingelectronsandquarks) and the massiveW and Zgauge bosons. Finding how this happens is pivotal to particle

physics. But it is not responsible for all the mass we see around us. For

example, about 99% of the mass ofbaryons(composite particles such astheprotonandneutron) is due instead to thekinetic energyof quarks and
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to the energies of (massless)gluonsof thestrong interactioninside thebaryons.[24]

The Standard Model shows how the energy of the Higgs field andvacuum can manifest, in the right conditions, as the property we call'mass'. But the Higgs field is not actually "creating" massmiraculouslyout of nothing(which would violate thelaw of conservation of energy).

In Higgs-based theories, mass is a manifestation ofpotential energytransferred to the particle during interactions ("coupling") with the Higgsfield, which had contained that massin the form of energy.

[25]

Evidence whether or

notscalar fieldsexist innature, and"new"

physics

Proof of ascalar fieldsuch as the Higgs field would be hard to overestimate: "[The] verification of real scalar fields would be nearly as

important as its role in generating mass".[9]Rolf-Dieter Heuer, directorgeneral of the LHC project, stated in a 2011 talk on the Higgs field:[26]

"All the matter particles are spin-1/2fermions. All the force

carriers are spin-1 bosons. Higgs particles are spin-0 bosons(scalars). The Higgs is neither matter nor force. The Higgs is justdifferent. This would be the first fundamental scalar everdiscovered. The Higgs field is thought to fill the entire universe.

Could it give some handle ofdark energy(scalar field)? Manymodern theories predict other scalar particles like the Higgs.Why, after all, should the Higgs be the only one of its kind?[The] LHC can search for and study new scalars with precision."

Insight intocosmic

inflation

There has been considerable scientific research on possible links

between the Higgs field and theinflaton- a hypothetical field suggestedas the explanation for theexpansion of spaceduringthe first fraction of asecondof theuniverse(known as the "inflationary epoch"). Some

theories suggest that a fundamental scalar field might be responsible forthis phenomenon; the Higgs field is such a field and therefore has led to

papers analysing whether it could also be the inflaton responsible for thisexponentialexpansion of the universe during theBig Bang. Suchtheories are highly tentative and face significant problems related to

unitarity, but may be viable if combined with additional features such aslarge non-minimal coupling, aBrans-Dickescalar, or other "new"

physics, and have received treatments suggesting that Higgs inflationmodels are still of interest theoretically.

Insight into the'energy

of the vacuum'

More speculatively, the Higgs field has also been proposed as theenergy

of the vacuum, which at the extreme energies of the first moments of theBig Bangcaused the universe to be a kind of featureless symmetry ofundifferentiated extremely high energy. In this kind of speculation, the

single unified field of aGrand Unified Theoryis identified as (or

modeled upon) the Higgs field, and it is through successive symmetrybreakings of the Higgs field or some similar field atphase transitionsthat the present universe's known forces and fields arise.[27]

Link to the'cosmological constant'

problem

The relationship (if any) between the Higgs field and the presentlyobservedvacuum energy densityof the universe has also come underscientific study. As observed, the present vacuum energy density isextremely close to zero, but the energy density expected from the Higgsfield, supersymmetry, and other current theories are typically many
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_boson#cite_note-33http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_transitionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Unified_Theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Banghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_energyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_energyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_energyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_energyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brans-Dickehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarity_%28physics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Banghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_growthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflationary_epochhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_the_universehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_the_universehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_expansion_of_spacehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflatonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_inflationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_inflationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_energyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson#cite_note-Heuer_2011-32http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolf-Dieter_Heuerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson#cite_note-ScienceNews-11http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalar_fieldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics_beyond_the_Standard_Modelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics_beyond_the_Standard_Modelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalar_fieldshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson#cite_note-31http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass-energy_equivalencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_energyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_conservation_of_energyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatio_ex_nihilohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatio_ex_nihilohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson#cite_note-30http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_interactionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluon


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orders of magnitude larger. It is unclear how these should be reconciled.Thiscosmological constant problemremains a further majorunanswered

problemin physics.

Further information:Zero-point energyandVacuum state

History

See also:1964 PRL symmetry breaking papersandHiggs mechanism

The six authors of the1964 PRL papers, who received the 2010J. J.

Sakurai Prizefor their work. From left to right:Kibble,Guralnik,

Hagen,Englert,Brout.Right:Higgs.

Particle physicists studymattermade fromfundamental particleswhose interactions aremediated by exchange particles known asforce carriers. At the beginning of the 1960s a number

of these particles had been discovered or proposed, along with theories suggesting how theyrelate to each other, some of which had already been reformulated asfield theoriesin which the

objects of study are not particles and forces, butquantum fieldsand theirsymmetries.[citation needed]

However,attempts to unifyknownfundamental forcessuch as theelectromagnetic forceand the

weak nuclear forcewere known to be incomplete. One known omission was thatgauge invariantapproaches, includingnon-abelianmodels such asYangMills theory(1954), which held great

promise for unified theories, also seemed to predict known massive particles as massless.[28]

Goldstone's theorem, relating tocontinuous symmetrieswithin some theories, also appeared to

rule out many obvious solutions,[29]

since it appeared to show that zero-mass particles would

have to also exist that were "simply not seen".[30]

According toGuralnik, physicists had "nounderstanding" how these problems could be overcome.

[30]

Particle physicist and mathematician Peter Woit summarised the state of research at the time:

"Yang and Mills work on non-abelian gauge theory had one huge problem: in

perturbation theoryit has massless particles which dont correspond to anything we see.One way of getting rid of this problem is now fairly well-understood, the phenomenon of

confinementrealized inQCD, where the strong interactions get rid of the massless

gluon states at long distances. By the very early sixties, people had begun to understandanother source of massless particles: spontaneous symmetry breaking of a continuous

symmetry. What Philip Anderson realized and worked out in the summer of 1962 was

that, when you have both gauge symmetry andspontaneous symmetry breaking, theNambu-Goldstone massless mode can combine with the massless gauge field modes to
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kipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Guralnikhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson#cite_note-Guralnik_2011-36http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson#cite_note-Guralnik_2011-36http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson#cite_note-Guralnik_2011-36http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perturbation_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perturbation_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_confinementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_confinementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_chromodynamicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_chromodynamicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_chromodynamicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Higgs,_Peter_(1929)_cropped.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AIP-Sakurai-best.JPGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Higgs,_Peter_(1929)_cropped.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AIP-Sakurai-best.JPGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_chromodynamicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_confinementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perturbation_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson#cite_note-Guralnik_2011-36http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Guralnikhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson#cite_note-Guralnik_2011-36http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson#cite_note-35http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_symmetryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldstone%27s_theoremhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson#cite_note-woit-34http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang%E2%80%93Mills_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-abelian_gauge_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_invariancehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weak_nuclear_forcehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_forcehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_forceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_field_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetry_%28physics%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_fieldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_field_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_carrierhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_particlehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Higgshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Brouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Englerthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._R._Hagenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Guralnikhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._W._B._Kibblehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakurai_Prizehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakurai_Prizehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_PRL_symmetry_breaking_papershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_mechanismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_PRL_symmetry_breaking_papershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_statehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-point_energyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unanswered_questions_in_physicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unanswered_questions_in_physicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_constant


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produce a physical massive vector field. This is what happens insuperconductivity, a

subject about which Anderson was (and is) one of the leading experts." [text condensed][28]

The Higgs mechanism is a process by whichvector bosonscan getrest masswithoutexplicitly

breakinggauge invariance, as a byproduct ofspontaneous symmetry breaking.

[31][32]

Themathematical theory behind spontaneous symmetry breaking was initially conceived and

published within particle physics byYoichiro Nambuin 1960,[33]

the concept that such a

mechanism could offer a possible solution for the "mass problem" was originally suggested in1962 byPhilip Anderson,

[34]:4-5[35]andAbraham KleinandBenjamin Leeshowed in March 1964

that Goldstone's theorem could be avoided this way in at least some non-relativistic cases and

speculated it might be possible in truly relativistic cases.

These approaches were quickly developed into a fullrelativisticmodel, independently and

almost simultaneously, by three groups of physicists: byFranois EnglertandRobert Broutin

August 1964;[36]

byPeter Higgsin October 1964;[37]

and byGerald Guralnik,Carl Hagen, and

Tom Kibble(GHK) in November 1964.

[38]

Higgs also wrote a short but important

[39]

responsepublished in September 1964 to an objection byGilbert,[40]

which showed that if calculating

within the radiation gauge, Goldstone's theorem and Gilbert's objection would becomeinapplicable.

[Note 7](Higgs later described Gilbert's objection as prompting his own paper.

[41])

Properties of the model were further considered by Guralnik in 1965,[42]

by Higgs in 1966,[43]

by

Kibble in 1967,[44]

and further by GHK in 1967.[45]

The original three 1964 papers showed that

when agauge theoryis combined with an additional field that spontaneously breaks thesymmetry, the gauge bosons can consistently acquire a finite mass.

[31][32][46]In 1967,Steven

Weinberg[47]

andAbdus Salam[48]

independently showed how a Higgs mechanism could be used

to break the electroweak symmetry ofSheldon Glashow'sunified model for the weak andelectromagnetic interactions

[49](itself an extension of work bySchwinger), forming what became

theStandard Modelof particle physics. Weinberg was the first to observe that this would also

provide mass terms for the fermions.[50]

However, the seminal papers on spontaneous breaking of gauge symmetries were at first largely

ignored, because it was widely believed that the (non-Abelian gauge) theories in question were adead-end, and in particular that they could not berenormalised. In 1971-72,Tini Veltmanand

Gerard 't Hooftproved renormalisation of Yang-Mills was possible in two papers covering

massless, and then massive, fields.[50]

Their contribution, and others' work on therenormalization

group, was eventually "enormously profound and influential",[51]

but even with all key elementsof the eventual theory published there was still almost no wider interest. For example,Coleman

found in a study that "essentially no-one paid any attention" to Weinberg's paper prior to 1971[52]

now the most cited in particle physics[53]

and even in 1970 according toPolitzer, Glashow's

teaching of the weak interaction contained no mention of Weinberg's, Salem's, or Glashow's ownwork.

[51]In practice, Politzer states, almost everyone learned of the theory due to physicist

Benjamin Lee, who combined the work of Veltman and 't Hooft with insights by others, and

popularised the completed theory.[51]

In this way, from 1971, interest and acceptance"exploded"

[51]and the ideas were quickly absorbed in the mainstream.

[50][51]
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Documents

Higg Bosons