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The Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive scalar elementary particle predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. At present there are no known elementary scalar bosons (spin-0 particles) in nature, although many composite spin-0 particles are known. The existence of the particle is postulated as a means of resolving inconsistencies in current theoretical physics, and attempts are being made to confirm the existence of the particle by experimentation, using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN and the Tevatron at Fermilab. Other theories exist that do not anticipate the Higgs boson, described elsewhere as the Higgsless model. More...
The Standard Model predicts HIggs, other models do not. If I understood Dr. Hawking correctly in The Grand Design, his concept of model dependent reality says that if both the standard model and the Higgsless model accurately predict observations, we can't say that one is right and the other wrong. They would both be equally useful (or true, or whatever word you want to use here).
Which is why the research being done at the LHC ("Big Bang Machine") at CERN is so important to particle physicists. By ramping up the energy we hope to either discover the Higgs Boson which the Standard Model of Particle Physics strongly predicts, or discover something(s) different like quarks heavier than the Top Quark, dark matter, or even multiple flavors of Higg Bosons, on something completely unexpected.
The standard model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the early and middle 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon experimental confirmation of the existence of quarks. Since then, discoveries of the bottom quark (1977), the top quark (1995) and the tau neutrino (2000) have given credence to the standard model. Because of its success in explaining a wide variety of experimental results, the standard model is sometimes regarded as a theory of almost everything.
Still, the standard model falls short of being a complete theory of fundamental interactions because it does not incorporate the physics of general relativity, such as gravitation and dark energy. The theory does not contain any viable dark matter particle that possesses all of the required properties deduced from observational cosmology. It also does not correctly account for neutrino oscillations (and their non-zero masses). Although the standard model is theoretically self-consistent, it has several unnatural properties giving rise to puzzles like the strong CP problem and the hierarchy problem.
Nevertheless, the standard model is important to theoretical and experimental particle physicists alike. For theoreticians, the standard model is a paradigm example of a quantum field theory, which exhibits a wide range of physics including spontaneous symmetry breaking, anomalies, non-perturbative behavior, etc. It is used as a basis for building more exotic models which incorporate hypothetical particles, extra dimensions and elaborate symmetries (such as supersymmetry) in an attempt to explain experimental results at variance with the standard model such as the existence of dark matter and neutrino oscillations. In turn, the experimenters have incorporated the standard model into simulators to help search for new physics beyond the standard model from relatively uninteresting background.
Recently, the standard model has found applications in other fields besides particle physics such as astrophysics and cosmology, in addition to nuclear physics.
In the absence of God, I found Man.
-Guillermo Del Torro
Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?
Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?
Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?