What is the Higgs boson?
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0:00 - 0:03What is the Higgs?
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0:04 - 0:07Since 1964 we've had this idea
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0:08 - 0:11proposed by Englert, Brout and Higgs
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0:12 - 0:15that empty space is like a medium
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0:16 - 0:20and as particles travel through this medium
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0:20 - 0:22some of them interact with it,
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0:22 - 0:24some of them don't interact with it.
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0:24 - 0:27The ones that do interact with this medium,
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0:27 - 0:29they acquire masses,
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0:29 - 0:31and the ones that pass through it without interacting,
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0:32 - 0:34those are massless particles.
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0:34 - 0:36Let me give you an analogy:
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0:36 - 0:40imagine an infinite field of snow
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0:40 - 0:43extending thoughout all of space,
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0:43 - 0:47flat, featureless, going in all directions,
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0:47 - 0:50maybe the middle of Siberia.
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0:50 - 0:52Now imagine that you're trying to cross
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0:52 - 0:54this field of snow.
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0:54 - 0:56So maybe you're a skier,
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0:57 - 0:59and you skim across the top,
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0:59 - 1:00that's like a particle that a particle that
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1:00 - 1:02does not interact with the Higgs field,
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1:02 - 1:06it does not sink into the snow, it goes very fast,
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1:06 - 1:10that's like a particle with no mass travelling at the speed of light.
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1:11 - 1:13But maybe you've only got snow shoes,
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1:13 - 1:17in that case you sink into the Higgs snow field,
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1:18 - 1:21you've got less speed that the skier,
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1:21 - 1:23less that the speed of light,
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1:23 - 1:26that's like a particle with mass, because you are
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1:26 - 1:29connecting, interacting, with that Higgs snow field.
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1:30 - 1:33And then finally if you've just got boots on,
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1:33 - 1:36then you you sink deeply into the snow,
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1:36 - 1:38you go very very slowly,
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1:38 - 1:40and that's like a particle with a big mass.
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1:41 - 1:45So, think of this Higgs field as being
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1:45 - 1:47like this universal field of snow.
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1:48 - 1:52Now, where does the Higgs boson come in?
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1:52 - 1:55We all know what snow is made out of, right.
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1:55 - 1:57It's made out of snow flakes.
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1:57 - 2:02In the same way this universal Higgs snow field,
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2:02 - 2:05is made up out of little quanta,
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2:05 - 2:10those quanta are like snowflakes, that's what we call the Higgs boson.
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2:13 - 2:17The Higgs boson has this job of giving masses
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2:17 - 2:19to all the other elementary particles.
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2:22 - 2:25If you look at the basic equations
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2:25 - 2:30of the Standard Model, as written on my T-shirt,
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2:30 - 2:33they're very symmetric, that way in which
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2:33 - 2:36all the different particles appear is the same.
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2:36 - 2:39At least on the top two lines there're nothing
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2:39 - 2:43to distinguish particles that have different masses for example.
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2:44 - 2:46But this symmetry has to be broken,
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2:47 - 2:49electrons are lighter than muons,
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2:49 - 2:51the top quark is much much heavier
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2:51 - 2:54than the quarks that make up everyday nuclei.
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2:54 - 2:58So, the top two lines, the symmetric lines,
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2:58 - 2:59cannot be all there is,
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2:59 - 3:02there has to be something to discriminate,
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3:03 - 3:05to distinguish, between the different types of particle.
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3:06 - 3:08And that's the job of the Higgs boson,
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3:08 - 3:11that's the job of the two bottom lines.
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3:11 - 3:15Depending on how those different types of quark
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3:16 - 3:18or the electron and muon,
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3:18 - 3:23depending on how they connect to that Higgs field, that Higgs boson,
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3:23 - 3:25we believe they get different masses.
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3:25 - 3:28The symmetry between these particles is broken.
- Title:
- What is the Higgs boson?
- Description:
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John Ellis,theoretical physicist, answers the question "What is the Higgs boson?" in preparation for the press conference following the seminar on LHC 2012 results on the Higgs boson search, due on July 4 2012 at CERN. For more details: http://cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2012/PR16.12E.html
[video also available via https://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1458922]
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- Volunteer
- Duration:
- 03:30
irvdel edited English subtitles for What is the Higgs boson? | ||
irvdel edited English subtitles for What is the Higgs boson? | ||
irvdel edited English subtitles for What is the Higgs boson? | ||
irvdel edited English subtitles for What is the Higgs boson? | ||
irvdel edited English subtitles for What is the Higgs boson? | ||
irvdel edited English subtitles for What is the Higgs boson? | ||
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