- Most of an atom’s mass is in the nucleus, a small, dense area at the center of every bit composed of nucleons. Nucleons include protons and neutrons. All the positive charge of an atom is contained in the nucleus and originates from the protons. All matter is composed of tiny indivisible particles too small to see. These particles do not share the properties of the material they make up. There is nothing in the space between the particles that make up matter. The particles which make up matter are in constant motion in all physical states. Particles in all states of matter are in continuous motion, which is very rapid at room temperature. A rise in temperature increases particles’ kinetic energy and speed; it does not weaken the forces between them. A single particle contains over a thousand bits of information.
- Most fundamental matter particles, such as electrons, muons, and quarks, get their mass from their resistance to a field that permeates the universe called the Higgs field. The more the Higgs field pulls on a particle, the more mass it has.
- Information has mass, and it is the fifth state of matter. The other four are gas, plasma, liquid, and solid-state. Dark matter is mall bits of mass particles without charge or spin. This explains the dynamics of the galaxies and the accelerated expansion of the universe. Energy is the capacity to do work. All matter is anything that occupies space and has mass.
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Our universe comprises two types of fundamental particles: Fermions are matter particles. Bosons are particles that are related to elemental forces.
- Elementary particles are merely excited states (or quanta) of some field. This includes the Higgs boson, the quanta of the Higgs field, the photon, the quanta of the electromagnetic field, the electron, the quanta of the electron field, etc. All fields exist at all points in time and space. Fields may couple with other fields; the fields interact with one another. Some fields couple to the Higgs field. After a process of spontaneous symmetry breaking, the Higgs field is separated into two parts. The first part remains a dynamic field, and its quanta are the Higgs bosons. The second part is a constant (called the vacuum expectation value). The equations that describe the coupling of the Higgs field to other fields become equations that describe the other fields’ coupling (quadratically) to themselves. Quantum field theory is interpreted as giving mass to a field. The vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field is therefore proportional to the mass of each field.
- The equations that are interpreted as giving mass to certain fields do not exist before the spontaneous symmetry breaking of the Higgs field occurs. So this is how the Higgs field gives masses to the elementary particles: any field that couples (or interacts) with the Higgs field acquires a mass term that would otherwise not have existed.
- Since all elementary particles are quanta of their corresponding fields, the particles that are the quanta of fields that couple to the Higgs field acquires mass due to spontaneous symmetry breaking, which is the essence of the Higgs mechanism. This includes all known particles (or fields) except the photon, the gluon, and the three generations of neutrinos.
- The vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field is just the value that is expected when it is in the lowest possible level of energy,.. st energy. It is a general law of nature that physical systems always “want” to be in the state of lowest possible energy. The system’s potential energy function determines the allowed values for the energy.
- Particles, like protons, do not acquire mass through the Higgs mechanism. The Higgs mechanism can only give mass to elementary particles.
- There are 17 particles in this table, including the Higgs boson itself. Out of them, only 12 particles get masses from the Higgs mechanism. These are the six quarks u, d, c, s, t, b, the three leptons e, μ, τ, the two gauge bosons Z, W, and the Higgs boson itself, H. (It’s possible that the neutrinos also get their masses from the Higgs mechanism, but we’re not sure yet). However, many other particles are not elementary; they are called composite particles. These particles are made from elementary particles and/or from other composite particles. For example, the proton is made from two u quarks and one d quark.
- There are two sources of energy inside the proton. The quarks always move around inside, so they have kinetic energy. The quarks also interact with each other. This interaction binds the quarks together, and it also has energy. So both the kinetic energy and the binding energy of the quarks contribute to the overall mass of the proton. The same goes for all other composite particles.
- The Higgs field has no electric charge, no intrinsic angular momentum or spin, no color force charge, and no odd parity. The vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field is constant in space and time. All particles and fields can carry energy by having a phase that oscillates in time with a rate given by their energy. The Higgs field is everywhere; its minimum energy is not zero; it interacts with virtual particles through its boson or particle. This boson interacts by a collision mechanism with particles providing them with mass. Mass is a property of matter. On the Higgs field, the kinetic energy of the matter is changed into mass. Energy is converted into mass energy. This mass is called a Higgs boson. The Higgs mechanism is how gauge boson and chiral fermions dynamically acquire mass.
- In the standard model, the left-handed fermions have different charges from the right-handed fermions.
