If the LHC discovers the Higgs particle, will the Higgs field become a fifth fource?

Question

In addition to gravity, electromagnetism, weak and strong nuclear force?

Answer 1

If the LHC discovers the Higgs particle--I bet the bottom line is it will want to reassess the relationship and probably divorce!!

Answer 2

No - the Higg's field is scalar and does not have 'gauge invariance' thus it will not be the fifth force.

Below I will detail some of the physics that the LHC is attempting to explore.

The weak interaction, is mediated by spin-1 bosons which act as force carriers between quarks and/or leptons. There are three of these intermediate vector bosons, which were all discovered at CERN in 1983. They are the charged bosons W+ and W- and the neutral Z0. Their masses are measured to be: -

M(W) = 80.3 Gev/c² and M(Z) = 91.2 Gev/c²

which gives their ranges as: -

R(W) ≈ R(Z) ≈ 2 x 10^-3 fm

Their decay modes are as follows: -

W+ -> l+ + vl

W- -> l- + vl'

Z0 -> l+ + l-

Where the l's stand for leptons and the v's for neutrinos with the prime ' indicating an anti-neutrino.

This introduction sets the scene for what follows!

The intermediate vector bosons gain their mass from the Higgs boson. Please allow me to explain.

During the nineteen-sixties the theoretical physicists Glashow, Salam and Weinberg developed a theory which unified the electromagnetic and the weak nuclear forces. This theory is known as the ‘electroweak’ theory, it predicted the neutral vector boson Z0, and weak nuclear force reactions arising from its exchange, in what are known as neutral current reactions. The theory also accounted for the heavy charged bosons W+ and W-, required for the mediation of all observed weak interactions, known as charged current reactions. These particles were discovered in 1983.This unified theory is a ‘gauge invariance’ theory, which means that if the components of its underlying equations are transformed, in position or potential, they still predict exactly the same physics. Because the force carrying particles (Z0, W+ and W-), of this theory, are massive spin-1 bosons a spin-0 boson is required to complete the theory. This spin-0 boson is the as yet unobserved ‘Higgs’ boson.

The masses of the force carrying bosons (Z0, W+ and W-), for the electroweak theory, are derived from their interaction with the scalar Higgs field. Unlike other physical fields, the Higgs field has a non-zero value in the vacuum state, labelled φ0, and furthermore this value is not invariant under gauge transformation. Hence, this gauge invariance is referred to as a ‘hidden’ or ‘spontaneously broken’ symmetry. The Higgs field has three main consequences’. The first, is that the electroweak force carrying bosons (Z0, W+ and W-) can acquire mass in the ratio: -

M(W) =cosθ(W)

_____

M(Z)

Where θ(W) Is the electroweak mixing angle. These masses arise from the interactions of the gauge fields with the non-zero vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field. Secondly, there are electrically neutral quanta H0, called Higgs bosons, associated with the Higgs field, just as photons are associated with the electromagnetic field. Thirdly, the Higgs field throws light on the origin of the quark and lepton masses. In the absence of the Higgs field the requirements of gauge invariance on the masses of spin-½ fermions (quarks and leptons etc,) would set them at zero for parity violating interactions (non-mirror image interactions). Parity is a conserved quantity in strong nuclear force and electromagnetic interactions but is violated in weak nuclear force interactions, which would make quark and lepton masses zero in this later case. However, interactions with the Higgs field can generate fermion masses due to the non-zero expectation value φ0 of this field, as well as with interactions with the Higgs bosons. These interactions have a dimensionless coupling constant g(Hff) related to the fermions mass m(f) by the expression: -

g(Hff) = √ (√2G(f)m(f) ²)

Where G(f) is the Fermi coupling constant and f is any quark or lepton flavour. However, this theory, that the fermion masses are mediated by their interaction with the Higgs field, does not predict their mass m(f). However, with the future discovery of the Higgs boson the above equation can be used to confirm the observed coupling constant g(Hff).

At CERN, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will search for the Higgs boson at an energy of up to 1 TeV by colliding protons in the reaction: -

p + p -> H0 + X

Where X is any state allowed by the usual conservation laws.

Answer 3

The Higgs field is not associated with a force. It is associated with mass. Discovery of the Higgs boson (the mediator of the Higgs field) would allow the standard model to account for the fact that some particles have non zero rest mass.

Answer 4

I think the Higgs boson has something to do with the electroweak interaction, which already is one of the fundamental forces. So it won't be a new one.

However, there are quite a lot of elementary particles now: quarks, leptons, mediators, their antiparticles... When we treat differently "colored" particles as different, there are something like 80 elementary particles at the moment! This is a good indication for some that the Standard Model, describing all of these, is overcomplicated and subject to be superseded soon.