Higgs boson

Definition

An elementary particle in the Standard Model, namely a boson with zero spin, that gives mass to other particles.

Etymology

From Higgs + boson; named after British physicist Peter Higgs, who is credited with proposing what is now called the Higgs mechanism. Korean-American theoretical physicist Benjamin W. Lee is generally credited with having coined the term.

Example Sentences

• "The existence of a Higgs boson would be the simplest solution to the problem of electroweak symmetry breaking."
• "We also know other things about the Higgs boson. If it were much more massive, a problem would occur. Since Higgs bosons interact with particles with a large mass, Higgs bosons would also interact with themselves (as they have mass too). This “self interaction” puts an upper limit on the mass of the Higgs boson as less than about 500-1000 GeV."
• "In the higher Higgs boson mass domain, the Higgs boson decays dominantly to a pair of b-quarks."