The origins of matter had been discovered

Itzel J. Alvarez

Fifty years ago a scientist named Peter Higgs proposed a new standard model of particle physics which explained the origin of mass in elementary particles. This model talks about a particle called the Higgs boson (His name bears the name of the scientist who first proposed its existence) that explains the origin of all visible matter in the universe. CERN scientists have been working on this project about twenty years after the scientist Peter Higgs proposed but their existence has not been easy, because to verify their existence it is required the help of the Large Hadron Collyder (LHC) which accelerates the particles in opposites directions to collide at a point such that the existence particle can be captured in a micro moment. This particle accelerator and collider is located a few hundred meters below Europe.

After all this time colliding particles, CERN, very recently, detected the existence of this particle, its existence could revolutionize some laws of physics such and simultaneously give validity to other theories based on the existence of the boson. This particle is very difficult to understand that’s why is better to use several analogies to explain it. One of the analogies that explain more or less this particle is when we have a number of people walking down a street and no attention between them is paid. These represent the photons which have no mass. While if you imagine a famous artist who attracts a swarm of photographers around him or her, the artist represents the particle which attracts other particles that collide and acquired visible mass through the boson. But to explain how massive particles may be we must understand the Higgs field. To achieve this we imagine that three people interact with the snow in order to overcome a mountain. The first on the mountain passes using a ski, this person exceeded the mountain pretty fast as there will almost touch with the field, while another person used snow shoes which do not allow him or her to pass through the snow and did not penetrate much and therefore exceeded the mountain more slowly than the person with the ski. And finally we have the person who does not use a ski or special shoes for snow, so the snow does not let him or her to travel faster, because the person's feet sink into the snow. In this analogy, each person represents a particle and each one is more massive than the other depending on their interaction with the snow, which in this case represents the Higgs boson field. This analogy allows us to understand that the more the particles interact with the Higgs field boson, the particle is more massive and more difficult it will be to exceed the field. 

For example, the electron is the lightest particle, therefore thanks to the existence of the boson we can say that this particle is the one which achieves faster on the Higgs particle field. While on the other hand, the top quark, which is a heavier particle, weighs 350,000 times as massive than the electron. So to have an idea of its weight, the top quark weighs like a gold atom. This is not because of the top quark is larger in size than the electron but because of this particle becomes very massive when is trying to cross Higgs boson field. It is fascinating that this particle has already been proven; right now this discovery could be considered the most important and significant in the physics of this century. The interest of scientists to verify the existence of the Higgs boson arises from the curiosity to know why some elementary particles have more mass than others. Thanks to the Higgs boson, this will not be a mystery. Now we know from where the matter is created.