The Higgs boson....?

Question

what is the higgs boson? I know that matter has mass because of this particle. This might seems utterly stupid to the smart people out there, but what will happen to matter if it doesnt have the Higgs boson, will its appearance be altered or will it look the same but just be massless.

Answer 1

Here's what I can make of it.  There is a Higgs field in empty space, just as there is an electromagnetic field, a gravitational field, a strong and weak nuclear field.  The Higgs field, however, is the missing link between the inertialess photon and massive particles like protons.  Massive particles can form out of photons, so somehow mass gets added and it loses its ability to propagate freely at the speed of light.  The Higgs field is responsible for this, theoretically.  It "sticks" to some particles, and leaves others alone, allowing some to gain mass and behave like normal matter, and others to remain in a pure energy state.  The Higgs boson is the particle associated with this field, just like the photon is the particle associated with the electromagnetic field.  The Higgs particle should be detectible under certain conditions (like when slamming protons together at nearly the speed of light).  If the LHC doesn't find the Higgs particle, it just means that the theory is wrong, and something else triggers mass in elementary particles.

Answer 2

goto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson

It details the definition and formulas.

Answer 3

Eelfins is pretty much on the right lines.  However, if the LHC doesn't find the Higgs boson, it doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't exist.  It could also mean the LHC is not powerful enough to generate the energies required.  I am hoping in the next couple of years to get some time at CERN, so maybe I'll get back to you later.

Answer 4

Atoms are made up of smaller subatomic particles. Protons and neutrons are made of hadrons. The hadron is determined by quarks. This construction and combination of quarks divides hadrons into baryons and mesons. Baryons are divided into fermions. Mesons are divided into bosons.

Confusion arises when an even number of fermions can make a boson. Fermions may also contain bosons.

Fermions are made up of quarks and leptons (particles and antiparticles).

Bosons would be radiation or forces within the particles. So far, we know of 4 bosons: W, Z, gluon, and photon.

It is suspected that a 5th boson exists. The yet undiscovered Higgs boson.

Discovering the Higgs boson will fill in research gaps in how massless particles and forces can combine to produce matter as well as increase our understanding of baryonic and non-baryonic matter.

This is a physics question. Perhaps someone there can offer a better explanation. But if the Higgs boson is not found (via particle colliders like the LHC), everything stays just as it is. Nothing will be altered. Perhaps there is no Higgs boson or perhaps we will find some other boson to add to our knowledge of how subatomic particles and forces interrelate to form matter.