GOD PARTICLE?

The "God particle" is the
nickname of a subatomic particle
called the Higgs boson. In layman’s
terms, different subatomic particles
are responsible for giving matter
different properties. One of the most
mysterious and important properties
is mass. Some particles, like protons
and neutrons, have mass. Others, like
photons, do not. The Higgs boson, or
“God particle,” is believed to be the
particle which gives mass to matter.
The “God particle” nickname grew out
of the long, drawn-out struggles of
physicists to find this elusive piece of
the cosmic puzzle. What follows is a
very brief, very simplified explanation
of how the Higgs boson fits into
modern physics, and how science is
attempting to study it.
The “standard model” of particle
physics is a system that attempts to
describe the forces, components, and
reactions of the basic particles that
make up matter. It not only deals with
atoms and their components, but the
pieces that compose some subatomic
particles. This model does have some
major gaps, including gravity, and
some experimental contradictions.
The standard model is still a very
good method of understanding
particle physics, and it continues to
improve. The model predicts that
there are certain elementary particles
even smaller than protons and
neutrons. As of the date of this
writing, the only particle predicted by
the model which has not been
experimentally verified is the “Higgs
boson,” jokingly referred to as the
“God particle.”
Each of the subatomic particles
contributes to the forces that cause all
matter interactions. One of the most
important, but least understood,
aspects of matter is mass. Science is
not entirely sure why some particles
seem mass-less, like photons, and
others are “massive.” The standard
model predicts that there is an
elementary particle, the Higgs boson,
which would produce the effect of
mass. Confirmation of the Higgs
boson would be a major milestone in
our understanding of physics.
The “God particle” nickname actually
arose when the book The God
Particle: If the Universe Is the
Answer, What Is the Question? by
Leon Lederman was published. Since
then, it’s taken on a life of its own, in
part because of the monumental
questions about matter that the God
particle might be able to answer. The
man who first proposed the Higgs
boson’s existence, Peter Higgs, isn’t all
that amused by the nickname “God
particle,” as he’s an avowed atheist. All
the same, there isn’t really any
religious intention behind the
nickname.
Currently, efforts are under way to
confirm the Higgs boson using the
Large Hadron Collider, a particle
accelerator in Switzerland, which
should be able to confirm or refute
the existence of the God particle. As
with any scientific discovery, God’s
amazing creation becomes more and
more impressive as we learn more
about it. Either result—that the Higgs
boson exists, or does not exist—
represents a step forward in human
knowledge and another step forward
in our appreciation of God’s awe-
inspiring universe. Whether or not
there is a “God particle,” we know this
about Christ: “For by him all things
were created: things in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible . . . all things
were created by him and for
him.

How it is found?

In very simple terms, physicists have
to break stuff to find stuff. They get to
use the scientific principles of a 2 year
old toddler and smash things
together to see what comes
off…..albeit in a much more
controlled environment.
Particle physicists have a fun job. Sure
they are dealing with some very heady
principles, and are trying to prove
what has been postulated after years
of thought experiments and enough
math to make an intelligent person go
insane, but ultimately they are trying
to break things to find the smallest
parts that they can. They use real big
tools to do it too. The most famous is
the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) built
at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland (well
part of it is in France as well) is an
underground ring measuring 17 miles
in circumference. It’s designed to take
two opposing beams of particles,
accelerate them to just under the
speed of light and smash them into
each other. These collisions, although
small, are very powerful. The
explosions are aimed to occur within
very large detectors that try to capture
the evidence of subatomic particle,
which decay very quickly.
As you might imagine these are not
experiments that can be conducted
inside university labs due to the size of
the tools and the cost to operate
them. Consider that the entire 17 mile
ring is lined with very expensive super
conducting magnets each kept just
above absolute zero, and the energy
needed to accelerate the beams to
near the speed of light, that these are
not tests to be conducted on a
shoestring budget. The LHC had a
construction budget of over 7 billion
euros, which makes it one of the most
expensive machines ever constructed.
So using these big expensive
machines, top particle physicists break
stuff in the hopes that what falls out
can be identified to help explain the
questions of the universe. Simple and
heady.

Whats Next?