What is the Higgs boson?
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0:01 - 0:03What is the Higgs?
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0:04 - 0:08Since 1964 we've had this idea
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0:09 - 0:12proposed by Englert, Brout and Higgs
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0:12 - 0:17that empty space is like a medium
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0:17 - 0:21and as particles travel through this medium
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0:21 - 0:23some of them interact with it,
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0:23 - 0:24some of them don't interact with it,
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0:24 - 0:27The ones that do interact with this medium,
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0:27 - 0:29they acquire masses,
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0:29 - 0:32and the ones that pass through it without interacting,
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0:32 - 0:35those are massless particles.
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0:35 - 0:37Let me give you an analogy:
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0:37 - 0:41imagine an infinite field of snow
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0:41 - 0:44extending thoughout all of space,
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0:44 - 0:48flat, featureless, going in all directions,
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0:48 - 0:51maybe the middle of Siberia.
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0:51 - 0:53Now imagine that you're trying to cross
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0:53 - 0:54this field of snow.
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0:54 - 0:56So maybe you're a skier,
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0:56 - 0:59and you skim across the top,
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0:59 - 1:02that's like a particle that a particle that
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1:02 - 1:04does not interact with the Higgs field,
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1:04 - 1:06it does not sink into the snow, it goes very fast,
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1:06 - 1:11that's like a particle with no mass travelling at the speed of light.
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1:11 - 1:14But maybe you've only got snw shoes,
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1:14 - 1:18in that case you sink into the Higgs snow field,
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1:18 - 1:22you've got less speed that the skier,
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1:22 - 1:23less that the speed of light,
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1:23 - 1:26that's like a particle with mass, because you are
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1:26 - 1:30connecting, interacting, with that Higgs snow field.
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1:30 - 1:34And then finally if you've just got boots on,
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1:34 - 1:36then you you sink deeply into the snow,
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1:36 - 1:38you go very very slowly,
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1:38 - 1:41and that's like a particle with a big mass.
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1:41 - 1:45So, think of this Higgs field as being
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1:45 - 1:48like this universal field of snow.
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1:48 - 1:53Now, where does the Higgs boson come in?
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1:53 - 1:56We all know what snow is made out of.
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1:56 - 1:58it's made out of snow flakes.
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1:58 - 2:02In the same way this universal Higgs snow fields,
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2:02 - 2:05is made up out of little quanta,
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2:05 - 2:11those quanta are like snowflakes, that's what we call the Higgs boson.
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2:13 - 2:17The Higgs boson has this job of giving masses
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2:17 - 2:20to all the other elementary particles.
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2:23 - 2:26If you look at the basic equations
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2:26 - 2:31of the Standard Model, as written on my T-shirt,
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2:31 - 2:34they're very symmetric, that way in which
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2:34 - 2:37all the different particles appear is the the same.
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2:37 - 2:39At least on the top two lines there're nothing
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2:39 - 2:43to distinguish particles that have different masses for eaxample.
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2:44 - 2:47But this symmetry has to be broken,
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2:47 - 2:51electrons are lighter than muons,
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2:51 - 2:54the top quark is much much heavier
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2:54 - 2:57than the quarks that make up everyday nuclei.
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2:57 - 2:59So, the top two lines, the symmetric lines,
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2:59 - 3:01cannot be all there is,
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3:01 - 3:03there has to be something to discriminate,
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3:03 - 3:06to distinguish, between the different types of particle.
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3:07 - 3:09And that's the job of the Higgs boson,
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3:09 - 3:12that's the job of the two bottom lines.
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3:12 - 3:16Depending on how those different types of quark
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3:16 - 3:19or the electron and muon,
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3:19 - 3:23depending on how they connect to that Higgs field,
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3:23 - 3:26we believe they get different masses.
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3:26 -The symmetry between these particles is broken.
- Title:
- What is the Higgs boson?
- Description:
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John Ellis,theoretical physicist, answers the question "What is the Higgs boson?" in preparation for the press conference following the seminar on LHC 2012 results on the Higgs boson search, due on July 4 2012 at CERN. For more details: http://cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2012/PR16.12E.html
[video also available via https://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1458922]
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- Volunteer
- Duration:
- 03:30
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irvdel edited English subtitles for What is the Higgs boson? | ||
irvdel edited English subtitles for What is the Higgs boson? | ||
irvdel edited English subtitles for What is the Higgs boson? | ||
irvdel edited English subtitles for What is the Higgs boson? | ||
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