Nobel Prize in Physics to announce the boson Peter Higgsi and François Englerti Higgs

2013/10/08 Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Sariak
• Fisika

François Englert and Peter W. Physicists Higgs will be awarded this year with the Nobel Prize in Physics for their theory of the mass of elementary particles. In 1964, each unilaterally proposed this theory, based on the particle that was later known as the Higgs boson. And last year at CERN announced the discovery of the Higgs boson.

The theory proposed by Englert and Higgs solved a problem of another great theory. This great theory, which commands the physics of particles, is the standard model. According to standard models, all objects in the universe are constituted by a certain type of particles, governed by certain forces or interactions. But this theory had a big problem: it did not explain why some particles have mass.

XX. In the mid-twentieth century many physicists tried to solve this problem and launched several theories. But the strongest and most advanced in 1964 was François Englert and Robert Brout (died in 2011) on one side, and Peter W. For his part, Higgs proposed it. They announced that all particles could be included in an area: Higgs zone. There are particles that move within this area without any obstacle and others that do not, because they have an interaction with the area. And, depending on this, the particles have or do not have mass. That is, particles that do not interact with the Higgs area do not have mass (such as photons), and those that interact themselves (such as electrons and quarks). And depending on the degree of interaction they will have more or less mass.

The discovery of the Higgs boson

The Higgs area is transmitted by a particle: Bosons Higgs. And the only way to affirm the theory was to find that particle. The standard model needed this particle, so in recent years much has been worked and many resources have been put in to find the Higgs boson. The work included a giant accelerator LHC. It was a difficult job, although it existed, it could not be a single boson. In any case, the director of CERN, Rolf Heuer, in an interview granted to Elhuyar magazine, said that by December 2012 they would know if the Higgs boson actually existed or not.However, the first news came a year earlier: On 13 December 2011, evidence of boson was found in two LHC detectors, the ATLAS and the CMS. Shortly afterwards, the Tevatron accelerator also found the signal of the boson. They were very good news, but not definitive. This occurred on 4 July 2012. From CERN, they stated that the missing particle in the Standard Model is not a theoretical idea: the Higgs boson was actually detected.

It was the greatest discovery of physics in recent years, and so many expected the Novel of last year to be for those who announced the Higgs boson. It was not so, but this year the expected Novel has arrived.