Higgs boson, quarks, leptons and particle physics

Can the discovery of the Higgs boson particle help with time travel?,” asked a young Vernon Area Public Library patron who attended the Science Explorers program.

Quarks, leptons and bosons are elemental properties in particle physics. These and other properties were identified in recent years and contribute to a much clearer picture of the underlying principles of our universe.

In the 1920s, Albert Einstein and Satyendra Nath Bose helped to define important properties of fundamental particles. Since then, many scientists have added new theories and explanations for these particles.

In the 1960s, Professor Peter Higgs put forth the existence of the Higgs boson, which was confirmed in 2012. Higgs and Francoise Englert were awarded the Nobel Prize for physics for their theoretical work.

Physicist Peter Watkins, professor at the University of Birmingham, England, was part of the team working on the ATLAS experiment to identify the Higgs boson. Scientists and engineers created an ultra-high-speed particle collider to smash protons against protons in hopes of confirming the theory. ATLAS, combined with other particle detector experiments, were conducted at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland, and results confirmed the existence Higgs boson.

Watkins explains the Higgs boson: “All the smallest particles inside atoms can be divided into two groups called fermions and bosons depending on a property called spin. We know about spin from the rotation of the earth or spinning tops. These tiny particles seem to have a related property. When the size of a particle's spin is measured, we find that it is either a whole number — bosons — or a half integer — fermions. For fundamental particles, which are not known to have smaller particles inside them, most bosons have a spin of 1 unit and most fermions have a spin of ½. The Higgs boson is the only known fundamental particle which has a spin of zero.”

Finding the Higgs boson using the LHC confirmed the existence of a new quantum field.

“In a proton-proton collision at the LHC, the energy is much higher than in previous accelerators. Although this energy is concentrated in a very small space, it is equivalent in energy to that in the very early universe just after the Big Bang. This can excite the quantum field, which is everywhere, and produce a Higgs boson, the smallest packet of energy in the quantum field,” Watkins said. “The Higgs boson decays rapidly but can be spotted using its decay products. The theory predicted all the properties of the Higgs boson except for its mass, which is now measured by ATLAS and CMS. Current measurements from the LHC experiments are consistent with these predictions, and so it looks as if this quantum field is indeed a feature of our universe.”

Could there be a time travel component of the Higgs boson? Watkins said no, but other properties of the universe, when better understood, could have an association with space-time or time travel.

“Einstein's theories of relativity had already predicted that there is a connection between space and time in the universe,” Watkin said. “Earlier theories had assumed that time was universal and unaffected by motion. Many experiments have now confirmed that the passage of time for a particle is affected by its motion, as predicted by the theory of relativity. The fact that space and time are definitely linked have led people to investigate the possibility of time travel through ideas like wormholes.”

Scientists and science fans know when one question is answered, more questions arise. Could there be more quantum fields? Do any other particles have a spin of zero? The field of physics is always looking for sharp minds that ask great questions like the ones about the Higgs boson and time travel. Find out more about bosons in Watkins' book “Story of the W and Z.”

Every science fan can help identify Higgs bosons. CERN is calling out to all citizen scientists to review data and look for evidence. Find out more at zooniverse.org and click the Physics icon, then Higgs Hunters.