The physicists are making progress over the particle that could explain mass

The physicists are making progress over the particle that could explain mass

Scientists claimed progress in the quest for the elusive Higgs boson, a theorized particle that could explain how the universe is built, though their data isn't robust enough yet to claim a conclusive discovery.

One experiment, known as Atlas, suggested that the hypothesized Higgs is most likely to have a tiny mass, in the range of 116 to 130 gigaelectronvolts, or GeV. The other experiment pegged mass at 115 to 127 GeV. The experiments were carried out at the European particle physics laboratory CERN near Geneva.

The Higgs could hold the key to the material world: an explanation for the property of mass. For example, its presence would help explain why some objects in the universe, such as protons, have mass, while other objects, such as photons, possess only energy. The discovery of the Higgs, which researchers have been experimentally seeking for nearly five decades, would rank as one of the biggest coups for modern-day physics.

The Higgs boson is crucial to the standard model of physics, on which scientists base their theory of matter. Physicists have suggested that as the universe cooled after the Big Bang, a force known as the Higgs field formed, along with the particle. Under this scenario, the Higgs field would permeate the universe, and any particles that interact with it are given a mass through the Higgs boson. The more they interact, the heavier they become. Particles that don't interact are left with no mass at all.

Sources:
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