What Is Higgs Boson?

The Higgs boson is a particle in the standard model of particle physics. Its existence was postulated in 1960s, to explain why the tiny particles that make up atoms have mass. Physicist Peter Higgs and 5 other theoretical physicists proposed that an invisible field lying across the universe gives particles their mass, allowing them to clump together to form stars and planets. Prof. Higgs predicted that this field, the Higgs Field, would have a signature particle, a massive boson. Finding it would point towards the existence of the field.

Why God particle?

The Higgs is the last missing piece of the standard model, the theory that describes the basic building blocks of the universe. The other 11 particles predicted by the model have been found~the Higgs is the last jigsaw piece. If the particle was not shown to exist, it would have meant tearing up of the standard model and going back to the drawing board.

The Indian Connection

Scientists from the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics(SINP), Kolkata (named after the legendary scientist Prof. Meghnad Saha), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, Harishchandra Research Institute, Allahabad and Institute of Physics, Bhuvaneswar were involved in the search for the Higgs boson over the years. SINP scientists contributed to CERN experiments. The core CMS team of the SINP had 5 faculty members~ Professors Sunanda Banerjee, Satyaki Bhattacharya, Suchandra Datta, Subir Sarkar and Manoj Saran. And, of course the boson is named after Indian scientists Satyendra Nath Bose who worked with Albert Einstein in the 1920s.