First of all, let me apologize about the long time it's been since I've posted a blog. I stopped over the summer and haven't really gotten back into the swing of it since. Without further ado, let's launch right into it!
Today's topic deals with the end of physics. Well, at least the end of particle physics. The whole field of studying particle physics could be coming to a screeching halt forever if one experiment shows certain results. What experiment is this? It's purpose it to prove one particle's existence. If the experiment goes one way, then dozens of theories can be proven correct. If the experiment shows other results, all of them would be wrong.
What on earth is this experiment and particle? Why are they so important? Before we get to that, we're going have to learn a little history first. Let's go back to the early 1960's.
During this era, scientists have been able to discover many laws of nature, called symmetries. They also were able to create the Standard Model of Particle Physics. It basically contains elementary particles known to mankind. It's made up of quarks, leptons, and gauge bosons, but we really only need to worry about the gauge bosons. The gauge bosons are made up of the gluon (what keeps atoms held together), the photon (what carries light), and two bosons, the W boson and the Z boson.
Oversimplifying it, the W and Z bosons are essentially what cause a neutron to turn into a proton and electron during a type of radioactive decay. This change is known as the weak force. According to the weak force's symmetry, the W and Z bosons shouldn't have any mass, but it was then discovered that they were actually quite massive. This is a good thing, otherwise matter wouldn't be able to exist. However, scientists were confused how a symmetry didn't match up to reality.
The scientists then realized that symmetries may not be followed 100% of the time. Imagine a symmetry like rules we humans have. When going and swimming at a pool, a lifeguard's going to tell you not to run. However, this may not always be the case: if you see a tornado coming toward the pool, no one's going to stop you from running away. Three researchers concluded that symmetries could be broken occasionally, which allowed the bosons to have mass. However, for this to be true, there would have to be a mysterious field* that hadn't been discovered yet.
Doing some research, scientists stated that the field would have to extend throughout space and break certain symmetries. While doing this research, they also realized that this same field could also explain why particles like electrons and quarks** have mass. It was getting kind of frustrating though, because they realized that a field like this hadn't been discovered yet and that they couldn't prove it's existence. Well, they could find out exactly what particle was causing the symmetry to break, and that would help prove the field's existence. Why not try that? Before we move on, though, let's do some naming. The new, mysterious field is called the Higgs field, and the particle is named...wait for it...the Jelly particle! Just kidding, it's really called the Higgs boson. Too bad, scientists just don't know how to have fun.
The Higgs boson is directly related to the Higgs field, and the existence of the particle would prove the existence of the field. If the Higgs field did exist, it would mean that the Standard Model was correct. The problem with catching a Higgs boson is that it's hard to produce. To make it, you have to take two particles (usually lead particles or protons), speed them up almost to the speed of light, and smash them together. Making a machine that could do that would be unbelievable. It would take billions of dollars, tens of thousands of acres, and decades to construct.
But we did it anyway. I present to you: the Large Hadron Collider!
Many people have pointed out that nothing can be created or invented with the Higgs boson right now. Don't be sad though. When radio waves were discovered, they were called sub-sonic radiation because radios hadn't been invented yet. the point is, the technology is here. Now people just need to make something out of it.
Thanks for reading! Again, I'm sorry about stopping the blog, and I promise it won't happen again. Post suggestions and comments in the comment section, and I'll see you in the next post!
Until next time,
Ben's jamin'
Benjamin
*A field is kind of like a set of data. It consists of each point of time and space being assigned a quantity. It can also mean a flat piece of land, but that's not what they meant. Probably not, anyway.
**A quark is what makes up protons and neutrons. They're more complicated than that, but I could literally rattle on about the complications about anything in particle physics. I won't though. You're welcome.
