Nearly 50 years after it was first theorised, physicists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) have announced the possible discovery of the elusive Higgs boson – a subatomic particle key to understanding how matter operates at a fundamental level. Their results will need to be monitored closely before they can be sure, but if confirmed, it will take physicists a considerable step closer to unlocking the mysteries of the Universe.
The Higgs boson was proposed in 1964 by British scientist Peter Higgs, as part of efforts to solve a conundrum at the heart of the Standard Model of physics. While the Model remains physicists’ best explanation for how the Universe functions at a subatomic level, it could not satisfactorily explain how elementary particles – the smallest particles that make up the Universe – gained their mass. Higgs and other scientists offered a potential solution – known as the Higgs mechanism – and researchers across the planet set up elaborate experiments to test its theories.
Since 2008, scientists at CERN have used the Large Hadron Collider – a gigantic particle accelerator over 27 kilometres in length – to smash streams of protons into one another at extremely high speed, scrutinising the resultant data for signs of the Higgs boson. Now, after many years’ work and billions of dollars, the search appears to be over – though it leaves many big questions unanswered. While the boson will increase scientists’ understanding of matter, 96% of the Universe – believed to be a combination of dark matter and dark energy – remains unexplained.
Glossary
- Higgs boson
- a fundamental particle believed to supply other particles with mass
- Standard Model:
- a model of particle physics that explains how particles interact
- Subatomic particles:
- particles that make up the structure of atoms, such as neurons, protons and electrons
- Proton:
- a positively charged particle found in the nucleus of all atoms.
- Dark matter:
- a material we cannot see that is believed to make up most of our Universe
- Dark energy:
- a mysterious energy field present across the entire known Universe, which accounts for 70% of its mass-energy and works against the effects of gravity
