The “God particle” has a precise mass now
Refined calculations on the Higgs Boson particle by CERN has estimated the mass with 0.1% uncertainty
Higgs Boson or the infamous “God particle” has perhaps been one of the biggest discoveries of our time. The news spread like wildfire when the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced its detection in 2012, using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). So what’s with all the excitement around the discovery of Higgs boson?
To understand the concept of Higgs particle a little better, let’s get a quick refresher about the forces of nature. According to the standard model of particle physics, there are four forces in nature — gravity, electromagnetism, strong & weak nuclear forces. We experience the first two on a daily basis, while the third one is the binding force between atoms and the fourth one enables the fusion of hydrogen atoms which eventually powers the sun.
This same weak force can change the up quark into a down quark & vice versa. Quarks are basically subatomic particles which make up protons & neutrons — where the former is made up of two up quarks and a down quark & the latter comprises of one up quark and two down quarks (figure below). Higgs Boson is therefore considered the last piece of the puzzle.
