American Journal of Modern Energy

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The Journey Through Time Towards the Discovery of the Higgs Boson - A Review

Received: 20 February 2017    Accepted: 28 February 2017    Published: 16 June 2017
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Abstract

The Higgs mechanics is very powerful, it furnishes a description of the electroweak theory in the standard Model which has a convincing experimental verification. But although the Higgs mechanism had been applied successfully, the conceptual background is not clear. The Higgs mechanism is often presented as spontaneous breaking of local gauge symmetry. But local gauge symmetry is rooted in redundancy of description, gauge transformation connect states that cannot be physically distinguished. Gauge symmetry is therefore not symmetry of nature, but of our description of nature. The spontaneous breaking of such symmetry cannot be expected to have physical effects since asymmetries are not reflected in the physics. If spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking cannot have physical effects, this causes conceptual problems for the Higgs mechanism, if taken to be described as spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking. In a gauge invariant theory, gauge fixing is necessary to retrieve the physics from the theory. This means that also in a theory with spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking, a gauge should be fixed. But gauge fixing itself breaks the gauge symmetry, and thereby obscures the spontaneous breaking of the symmetry. It suggests that spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking is not part of the physics, but an unphysical artefact of the redundancy in description.

DOI 10.11648/j.ajme.20170302.11
Published in American Journal of Modern Energy (Volume 3, Issue 2, April 2017)
Page(s) 17-22
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

CERN, LHC, Higgs, Symmetry, Asymmetry

References
[1] Barth A., W. Marx, L. Bornmann, R. Mutz: On the origins and the historical roots of the Higgs boson research from a bibliometric perspective.
[2] Close, F. (2011). The infinity puzzle how the quest to understand quantum field theory led to extraordinary science, high politics, and the world's most expensive experiment. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
[3] Cho, A. (2012). The discovery of the Higgs boson. Science, 338(6114), 1524-1525.
[4] Englert, F., Brout, R. (1964). Broken symmetry and the mass of gauge vector mesons. Physical Review Letters, 13(9), 321-323. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.13.321.
[5] Glashow, S. L. (1961). Partial-symmetries of weak interactions. Nuclear Physics, 22(4), 579-588. DOI: 10.1016/0029-5582(61)90469-2.
[6] Glashow, S. L. Nucl. Phys. 20, 579 (1961).
[7] Guralnik, G. S., Hagen, C. R., Kibble, T. W. B. (1964). Global conservation laws and massless particles. Physical Review Letters, 13(20), 585-587. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.13.585.
[8] Heisenberg W., Z. Phys.77 (1932) 1.
[9] Higgs, P. (1964). Broken symmetries, massless particles and gauge fields. Physics Letters, 12(2), 132-133. DOI: 10.1016/0031-9163(64)91136-9.
[10] http://home.web.cern.ch/about/physics/standard-model.
[11] Salam, A. (1968). In: Elementary Particle Physics (Nobel Symposium No. 8), ed. By Svartholm, N, London: Wiley-Interscience, p. 367-377.
[12] Weinberg, S. (1967). A model of leptons. Physical Review Letters, 19 (21), 1264-1266. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.19.1264.
[13] Y. Nambu, J. Phys. Soc. Japan, 76 (2007), 111002.
Author Information
  • Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria

  • Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria

  • Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria

  • Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria

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    Suleman Kamaldeen Olasunkanmi, Bello Ismaila Taiwo, Tijani Lateef Olabode, Ogunbode Amos Olusoji. (2017). The Journey Through Time Towards the Discovery of the Higgs Boson - A Review. American Journal of Modern Energy, 3(2), 17-22. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajme.20170302.11

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    ACS Style

    Suleman Kamaldeen Olasunkanmi; Bello Ismaila Taiwo; Tijani Lateef Olabode; Ogunbode Amos Olusoji. The Journey Through Time Towards the Discovery of the Higgs Boson - A Review. Am. J. Mod. Energy 2017, 3(2), 17-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ajme.20170302.11

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    AMA Style

    Suleman Kamaldeen Olasunkanmi, Bello Ismaila Taiwo, Tijani Lateef Olabode, Ogunbode Amos Olusoji. The Journey Through Time Towards the Discovery of the Higgs Boson - A Review. Am J Mod Energy. 2017;3(2):17-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ajme.20170302.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajme.20170302.11,
      author = {Suleman Kamaldeen Olasunkanmi and Bello Ismaila Taiwo and Tijani Lateef Olabode and Ogunbode Amos Olusoji},
      title = {The Journey Through Time Towards the Discovery of the Higgs Boson - A Review},
      journal = {American Journal of Modern Energy},
      volume = {3},
      number = {2},
      pages = {17-22},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajme.20170302.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajme.20170302.11},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajme.20170302.11},
      abstract = {The Higgs mechanics is very powerful, it furnishes a description of the electroweak theory in the standard Model which has a convincing experimental verification. But although the Higgs mechanism had been applied successfully, the conceptual background is not clear. The Higgs mechanism is often presented as spontaneous breaking of local gauge symmetry. But local gauge symmetry is rooted in redundancy of description, gauge transformation connect states that cannot be physically distinguished. Gauge symmetry is therefore not symmetry of nature, but of our description of nature. The spontaneous breaking of such symmetry cannot be expected to have physical effects since asymmetries are not reflected in the physics. If spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking cannot have physical effects, this causes conceptual problems for the Higgs mechanism, if taken to be described as spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking. In a gauge invariant theory, gauge fixing is necessary to retrieve the physics from the theory. This means that also in a theory with spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking, a gauge should be fixed. But gauge fixing itself breaks the gauge symmetry, and thereby obscures the spontaneous breaking of the symmetry. It suggests that spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking is not part of the physics, but an unphysical artefact of the redundancy in description.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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    T1  - The Journey Through Time Towards the Discovery of the Higgs Boson - A Review
    AU  - Suleman Kamaldeen Olasunkanmi
    AU  - Bello Ismaila Taiwo
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    T2  - American Journal of Modern Energy
    JF  - American Journal of Modern Energy
    JO  - American Journal of Modern Energy
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    EP  - 22
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    AB  - The Higgs mechanics is very powerful, it furnishes a description of the electroweak theory in the standard Model which has a convincing experimental verification. But although the Higgs mechanism had been applied successfully, the conceptual background is not clear. The Higgs mechanism is often presented as spontaneous breaking of local gauge symmetry. But local gauge symmetry is rooted in redundancy of description, gauge transformation connect states that cannot be physically distinguished. Gauge symmetry is therefore not symmetry of nature, but of our description of nature. The spontaneous breaking of such symmetry cannot be expected to have physical effects since asymmetries are not reflected in the physics. If spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking cannot have physical effects, this causes conceptual problems for the Higgs mechanism, if taken to be described as spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking. In a gauge invariant theory, gauge fixing is necessary to retrieve the physics from the theory. This means that also in a theory with spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking, a gauge should be fixed. But gauge fixing itself breaks the gauge symmetry, and thereby obscures the spontaneous breaking of the symmetry. It suggests that spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking is not part of the physics, but an unphysical artefact of the redundancy in description.
    VL  - 3
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    ER  - 

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