Oh, my God, what are particles?
Why do some elementary particles have mass and some have zero mass? The Higgs mechanism of the standard model can explain this problem. According to the Higgs mechanism, some elementary particles gain mass by interacting with the Higgs field all over the universe, and there will be a by-product Higgs boson. This boson is the inevitable result of Higgs mechanism, and physicists have been looking for it for a long time. If the experiment proves the existence of the Higgs boson, it can give great affirmation to the Higgs mechanism, especially for the explanation of why some elementary particles have mass, and it can also confirm that the standard model is basically correct.
1988, leon lederman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, inadvertently named the Higgs boson "God particle". Lederman wrote a popular science book, the original title was "Damn Particles", because the Higgs boson was hard to find, but the publisher thought it was inappropriate, so he changed it to "God Particles". But many scientists don't like this name because it overemphasizes the importance of this particle and the enlightenment of Taizong. Higgs himself doesn't like the title. He said, "Although I am not religious, I don't think the word' God' should be used because it may make some people feel offended." Interestingly, when others mention the Higgs boson, Higgs is always in awe, because he feels that "it is not worthy to name this particle after himself".
The origin of the name of god particle
On July 4th, 20 12, CERN announced that two experimental groups, CMS and ATLAS, on the large collider had detected a new boson suspected of Higgs. On March 4th, 20 13, a press release was issued again, officially confirming that Higgs particles had been detected before. The standard model * * * predicted 6 1 elementary particles, and the Higgs particle was the last one to be confirmed by experiments.
The Higgs boson was developed by physicist Peter? Named after Higgs, physicist Leon? Lederman inadvertently named the Higgs boson "God particle". Lederman doesn't like the name "God Particle". He likes to joke that he actually wants to call it a "damn particle" because the Higgs boson is so hard to find. "God Particle" originated from Lederman's book "God Particle", and this nickname also makes many physicists daunting.
Several main problems of god particle
1. Why is there the word "God" in the name of God particle?
At first, the word "God particle" came from a popular science book. In fact, many scientists believe that the name "God particle" has excessively increased the importance of this particle. Labeling a puzzling subatomic particle with similar theological terms seems to anger anti-science religious people, or at least keep them away from science. "God particle" has become another name for Higgs particle, but it is neither physics nor God's will, but it has influenced two aspects. "God particle" is a cheap name, which undoubtedly attracts people's attention, but its meaning is so vague that the real content is difficult to be understood by people.
2. Have scientists wavered in their search for God particles?
In August 2008, CERN began to operate a new large proton collider. This large proton collider costs about $8 billion. After the implementation of the plan, nearly 2000 scientists from 34 countries will participate. Optimistic estimate, will be in
Provide the exact answer around 20 10. However, in August of 20 1 1, CERN said: There are some signs that God particles may not really exist, but people's "fantasy". At the same time, many scientists in the center also believe that the possibility of "God particle does not exist" is increasing.
3. Why do you say that there is no life and no human beings without God particles?
If there were no God particles, all particles in the universe would move at the speed of light. Running at such a fast speed, particles will not combine, atoms, molecules, DNA and protein will not be produced, there will be no life, there will be no human beings and no other substances, and there will be nothing in the universe.
4. Where did God particles come from?
Physicists generally believe that God particles originated from the Big Bang. In fact, BIGBANG is regarded as the original origin of a series of elementary particles, including God particles.
5. How does God particle make other particles produce mass?
God particles will form a Higgs field throughout the universe. Some particles move in the Higgs field, just like walking through syrup, and become stagnant due to resistance, thus gaining mass. The "resistance" of different particles is different, and the quality obtained is also different.
6. Does Hawking bet 100 that there is no God particle?
Hawking, a famous physicist, and Kane, a professor at the University of Michigan, bet $ 100, confident that they could not find the Higgs boson called "God Particle". However, when CERN announced the discovery of the God particle, Hawking praised the significance of this discovery and joked: "This discovery should win the Nobel Prize for Higgs, but it cost me 100 dollars."
7. Higgs's paper on God particles was rejected?
1964, Higgs wrote two papers, each of which was only two pages long, and the content was what is now called Higgs field. Physics Express accepted the first paper, but rejected the second paper. When reviewing the second paper, Yoichiro Nambu, a famous physicist, suggested that Higgs add some contents to explain the physical significance of this theory. Higgs added a paragraph, predicting that this field will produce a new kind of particle, the God particle. Then, he submitted the revised paper to the magazine's competitor, Physical Review Express, and the results were published.
8. Did Britain hold a competition to find the best way to explain the Higgs field?
It is difficult for scientists to explain the Higgs field to the British government. 1993, British Minister of Science William? Waldo Gulliver started a competition to let scientists explain the Higgs field to him on a page. The winner is David, a physicist at University College London. Miller. Miller compared the Higgs field to a room where a large group of staff serving politicians' parties were evenly distributed. An insignificant person can pass through the crowd without hindrance. However, if the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was present, it would certainly attract a lot of attention: Party staff would gather around her to slow her down and bring her some kind of "quality".
9. Higgs doesn't like the name "God Particle"?
Leon Leon lederman, an American physicist and winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics, once wrote the popular science book "God Particle: If the universe is the answer, what is the question? Later, the media also followed this name and often referred to the Higgs particle as the "God particle". The name God Particle is very popular. However, as an atheist, Higgs dislikes the name very much. Before that, the modest Higgs didn't want his name to appear in front of the particle, but after weighing, he finally accepted the name Higgs particle.
10, scientists may have captured God particles more than ten years ago?
In 2000, the flagship accelerator of CERN, the large electron-positron collider, will soon stop running. As a result, it found a symbol that looked like a god particle, about 1 15.
GeV quality. Scientists persuaded the management to let the large electron-positron collider run for six weeks. During the extended service, there were more events that looked like God particles. Scientists demand to extend the running time again, but the large electron-positron collider must be dismantled to make room for the more powerful LHC. On 20 1 1 year, LHC announced the latest results, suggesting that the mass of God particles, if any, is between 1 15- 130.
GeV, this shows that scientists may have captured God particles more than ten years ago. Original address:/article/201604/914.html.
Research significance of God particle
GeV/C 2 is the unit of basic particle mass, where GeV is 65.438+0 billion electron volts and C 2 is the square of the speed of light. According to Einstein's mass-energy formula, the energy of a substance is equal to the mass multiplied by the square of the speed of light, so the mass of particles is measured by dividing the energy in electron volts by the square of the speed of light.
The Higgs boson is the last undiscovered elementary particle in the "standard model" theory of elementary particles in physics, and its spin is zero. Other particles produce mass under the action of Higgs boson, which lays the foundation for the formation of the universe. So far, other particles predicted by the standard model have been found, but the existence of Higgs boson has not been confirmed in experiments, and it is also called "God particle". Once the Higgs boson does not exist, the "standard model" theory will be overthrown.
Hawking predicted that God particles could destroy the universe.
When physicists discovered this particle in 20 12, Hawking regretted the discovery, claiming that it made physics more boring. Now, in the preface of Hawking's new book Starmus, which has collected many articles and lectures, the famous theoretical physicist warns us that such particles may one day destroy our known universe. Hawking is not the only scientist who thinks so. One is called "the end of Higgs plug" (Higgs
boson
The doomsday theory shows that when quantum waves form vacuum "bubbles" in space, they will spread in space and destroy the whole universe. Nevertheless, scientists don't think this will happen in the short term.
Hawking described the end of the Higgs particle in his new book: "One worrying convenience of the Higgs particle potential is that when its energy exceeds 1000 gigavolts, it may become metastable. This means that the universe may encounter a catastrophic vacuum recession. Bubbles in a vacuum will disperse at the speed of light. This can happen at any time and we can't predict it. "