What even is the Higgs Boson?

Here's something you've likely heard of before: The Higgs Boson.

If you haven't, worry not, you will do shortly.

A few years back, news erupted from the scientific world. They claimed that the so-called 'God particle' had been discovered, something that had taken quite the while to do. Most people, regardless of whether they understood it or not, knew that this was important. Scientists rarely get excited about anything, but when they do, it's always quite the sight. This was no exception, and in a few minutes time, you will understand why.

There's this thing called mass. It seems to be something intrinsic to matter, you have mass and I have mass and that's just how it is. There doesn't need to be a reason for it. But of course, this isn't good enough for physicists.

But before we look at how the Higgs boson (or the God Particle, if you want to call it that) is related to mass, let's first understand how forces work.

As very well explained in this video, forces are actually caused by the distribution of virtual particles. Don't fret, the basics of it are actually fairly easy to understand. Let's look at electromagnetism. When you look at fridge magnets, for example, I'm sure you'll quickly realise that the electromagnetic field seems much stronger closer to the magnet than farther away. We've figured out that this is because forces (or more specifically, their fields) are the result of these things called virtual particles. Virtual particles are very strange, with the ability to snap in and out of existence, acting hardly anything like normal matter. Don't worry if you don't get that bit, because this is stepping into the realm of Quantum Physics. The more virtual particles there are in one area, the stronger the force in that area. So, we can then assume, there are more virtual particles closer to the magnet than farther away.

Here is where the Higgs boson comes in.

The Higgs field is the thing that gives us mass, in much the same way as any other force. Except, unlike other forces, there is the same distribution of Higgs particles everywhere, as your mass is the same whether you're on the moon or on your couch (or at least that's the general understanding of it as of now).

You may be wondering what exactly mass is at this point, but that's a story for another time.

There is something very important, however, we have not mentioned so far. Why are some particles massless, and others are so heavy? What makes photons have less mass than neutrons? To put it simply, it's all to do with how much the particle interacts with the Higgs field. If a particle interacts quite a bit with the Higgs field, it will be heavier (like you and me). However, if it doesn't interact with the field at all (like photons), it has no mass and can travel the speed of light.

So that's it! You now know a little bit about particle physics. If you're ever wondering why that diet isn't working, just remember, it's only because you interact more with the Higgs field.