INTRODUCTION

• The Higgs boson, nicknamed the 'God particle' by the media, after a book by Nobel laureate Leon Lederman, is a fundamental particle in the Standard Model of particle physics. Proposed in the 1960s by physicists Peter Higgs, François Englert, and Robert Brout, its existence was confirmed in 2012 by experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider.

STANDARD MODEL OF PHYSICS

• It is the idea that everything in the universe is made of a few fundamental particles and that those are governed by four fundamental forces.

• Four Fundamental Forces:

• the strong force, the weak force, the electromagnetic force, and the gravitational force

• Twelve Fundamental Particles:

• up quarks, down quarks, strange quarks, charm quarks, top quarks, bottom quarks, electrons, electron neutrinos, muons, muon neutrinos, tau, and tau neutrinos.

• The 12 particles are further classified as “Quarks & Leptons”

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• Quarks and Leptons

• Quarks: Quarks are subatomic particles that are the fundamental building blocks of visible matter. 

• They are the smallest elementary particles in the universe and are unstable in their elementary form.

• Quarks are found deep within the atoms that make up our bodies, and even within the protons and neutrons that make up atomic nuclei.

• There are 6 Quarks: Up Quark; Down Quark; Charm Quark; Strange Quark; Top Quark; Bottom Quark .

• They come in six different flavours distinguished by their charge and mass:

• Up: Charge of +2/3 and a mass of 2.2 MeV/c2

• Down: Next to up quarks in terms of light mass, with a mass ranging from 4.1–5.7 MeV/c2 and an electric charge of -1/3 e.

• Top: The most massive quark

• Bottom: 2nd most massive quark

• Charm quark: 2nd Generation quark 

• Has a positive electric charge of +2/3 of the elementary charge (e).

• More massive than the strange quark. Its mass is around 1.27 GeV/c² (GeV/c² is a unit of mass-energy).

• Strange quark: Carries a negative electric charge of -1/3 e

• Less massive, with a mass of about 0.10 GeV/c².

• The six quarks are paired in the three generations – the “up quark” and the “down quark” form the first generation, followed by the “charm quark” and “strange quark”, then the “top quark” and “bottom (or beauty) quark”. 

• The lightest and most stable particles make up the first generation, whereas the heavier and less stable particles belong to the second and third generations. 

• All stable matter in the universe is made from particles that belong to the first generation; any heavier particles quickly decay to the next most stable level.

• The UP & DOWN are the lightest and the most stable. They form proton and neutrons.

• 2 up+1 down=proton 

• Combination of charge = +⅔ +⅔ -⅓ = +1

• 2 down+1 up=neutrons 

• Combination of charge = +⅔-⅓-⅓  = 0 (neutral)

• Leptons: For every quarks, there is an anti-quark to form antiparticles called leptons. They are six in numbers. 

• They are either charged(electron, muon, tau) or uncharged(electron neutrino, muon neutrino, tau neutrino).

• Neutrinos are the second most abundant particle in the universe, emitted by stars, nuclear reactors or anything having radioisotopes as they have rare interaction with matter; they are called ghost particles.

• Fermions

• Fermions are particles which have half-integer spin and therefore are constrained by the Pauli exclusion principle.

• Particles with integer spin are called bosons. 

• Fermions include electrons, protons, neutrons. Also it includes all quarks and leptons. 

• FUNDAMENTAL FORCES AND BOSONS:

• There are four fundamental forces namely gravitation force, electromagnetic force, weak and strong force. 

• To explain the origin of force, the concept of boson(force carrier particles) was used for each force.

• W Boson 

• Discovered in 1983, the W boson is a fundamental particle, Together with the Z boson, it is responsible for the weak force. 

• The W boson, which is electrically charged, changes the very make-up of particles. 

• It switches protons into neutrons, and vice versa, through the weak force, triggering nuclear fusion and letting stars burn. 

• In contrast to the photon, which is massless, the W bosons are quite massive, so the weak force they mediate is very short ranged.

• Force Carrier Particles or Bosons 

• Particles of matter transfer discrete amounts of energy by exchanging bosons with each other. 

• Each fundamental force has its own corresponding boson. 

• Bosons have spin like 0, 1, 2, 3 etc. 

• Bosons can again be divided into Gauge Bosons and Higgs Bosons. 

• Gauge Bosons (Responsible for energy transfer) 

• Gravitational Force – Graviton (Not part of standard model)

• Weak Nuclear Force – W and Z bosons (ie W+, W- and Z-0 bosons) 

• Electromagnetic Force – Photon. 

• Strong Nuclear Force – Gluon.

• Higgs Boson or God’s Particle (Responsible for mass)

• The proposed Higgs Boson particle is responsible for the mass of every particle.

• If you crash protons together at these extremely high energies, very, very, very occasionally—about once in a billion times—the collision will yield a Higgs particle. They exist for the tiniest fraction of a second before decaying into other particles.

• It explains the origin of mass immediately after the Big Bang.

• The Higgs field is the energy field associated with the Higgs boson and particles associated with the Higgs field are called Higgs bosons. 

• Higgs boson is the smallest possible excitation of Higgs field 

• Massless particles were made to interact with the Higgs field, this caused the conversion of energy to mass.

IMPORTANCE OF ANALYSING HIGGS BOSON

• Understanding Mass: By studying the Higgs boson, we gain insight into how particles acquire mass. 

• This is a fundamental property of matter, yet the mechanism behind it wasn't fully understood before the Higgs boson's discovery.

• Searching for New Particles:

• The Higgs Portal: The Higgs boson might interact with yet-to-be-discovered particles in subtle ways. 

• By studying its interactions and rare decay processes, scientists can search for indirect evidence of these new particles. 

• The Higgs could act as a portal to a whole new realm of physics.

• Unveiling the Universe's Composition:

• Dark Matter and Dark Energy: These mysterious substances make up most of the universe's mass and energy, yet we don't fully understand them. 

• The Higgs boson might hold clues to their nature. 

• Studying it could help us understand how the universe works on a grand scale.

LARGE HADRON COLLIDER

• The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle collider and the largest machine in the world. It was constructed by the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) between 1998-2008. 

• It lies in a tunnel 27 km in circumference and as deep as 175 m underneath the France -Switzerland border near Geneva. 

• It's designed to smash subatomic particles together at incredibly high speeds to study the fundamental building blocks of matter and the forces that govern them. 

• The aim is to enable physicists to experiment different theories regarding particle physics, including

• measuring the properties of the Higgs boson,

• Identify dark matter, 

• Find evidence for string theory, 

• Understand antimatter. 

• Search for extra dimensions of space and microscopic black holes, 

• Look for signs of unification of fundamental forces, 

• Learn about the fundamental forces that have shaped the universe since the beginning of time and will determine its fate.

Recent Developments:

Here are some recent developments related to ongoing research on the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC):

• Increased data collection: The LHC is currently in Run 3, which started in July 2022. 

• This run involves collecting even more data on particle collisions compared to previous runs, allowing for more precise measurements.

• Focus on rare processes: Scientists are analysing rare Higgs boson decay processes, where the Higgs boson breaks down into other particles.

• These rare decays can offer unique insights into the Higgs boson's nature.

• Higgs coupling measurements: 

• Ongoing research is focused on measuring the strength of the Higgs boson's interaction with other known particles, such as top quarks, W and Z bosons, and photons. Any deviations from predicted values could be significant.

INDIA’S ROLE:

India has played a significant role in the development and operation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Here's a breakdown of India's contributions:

Construction:

• Indian scientists and engineers were involved in the design and construction of several crucial components of the LHC:

• Superconducting Magnets: These powerful magnets guide and accelerate the particles within the LHC ring. India designed, developed, and supplied thousands of precision magnet positioning system jacks and other components for these magnets.

• Superconducting Corrector Magnets: India contributed to the construction of these magnets, which help fine-tune the particle beams for optimal collisions.

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Experiments:

• Indian scientists are actively involved in two of the major LHC experiments:

• CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid): This is one of the largest detectors at the LHC, designed to study a wide range of particles and phenomena produced in the collisions. Indian institutions like the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) collaborate on CMS research.

• ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment): This experiment focuses on studying the quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter believed to have existed shortly after the Big Bang. Indian scientists contribute to ALICE research as well.

• Computing Grid:

• India plays a vital role in the LHC's computing grid, a massive network of computers that processes and analyses the enormous amount of data generated by the LHC experiments.

SHORT TAKE

• Hadrons:

• In particle physics, a hadron is a subatomic particle made of two or more quarks (the fundamental particles that make up matter) held together by the strong interaction.

• Two Main types of Hadrons:

• Baryons:

• Composition: Made of three quarks.

• Example: Protons and neutrons, the building blocks of atomic nuclei, are baryons.

• Stability: Relatively stable compared to other subatomic particles due to the strong force binding the three quarks tightly.

• Mesons:

• Composition: Composed of a quark-antiquark pair.

• Example: Pions, which play a role in the strong force.

• Stability: Generally less stable than baryons. The quark-antiquark pair can annihilate each other, leading to a shorter lifespan.

• Pauli's Exclusion Principle:

• It states that no two electrons in the same atom can have identical values for all four of their quantum numbers. In other words, (1) no more than two electrons can occupy the same orbital and (2) two electrons in the same orbital must have opposite spins

• 

• String Theory

• String theory is a theoretical framework in physics that replaces point-like particles with one-dimensional objects called strings. 

• These strings are smaller than atoms, electrons, or quarks, and vibrate, twist, and fold to produce effects in many tiny dimensions. 

• These effects are interpreted by humans as everything from particle physics to large-scale phenomena like gravity.

CONCLUSION

The Large Hadron Collider successfully proved the existence of the Higgs boson, further exploration with this powerful machine could hold the key to unravelling even deeper mysteries of our universe, potentially leading to groundbreaking discoveries in ar

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Keywords:
HIGGS BOSON PARTICLE PHYSICS