In nuclear chemistry elements beyond Plutonium do not occur in nature and are synthesized artificially. Is it a similar case for Higgs boson too?

If so, how does it give mass to particles if it doesn’t exist? Did scientists create Higgs at LHC in 2011 just to make sure our universe exists through some kind of circular causation?

I’m obviously not understanding this properly. Please dispel my misunderstandings with reasonable explanations!

  • @SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    26•2 years ago

    The way I understand it is that it’s a field just as photons are an excitation of the electromagnetic field.

    Except that the Higgs interacts with some particles giving them “mass” where they otherwise wouldn’t.

    So it “exists” in the sense that there is an all pervasive field that is interacting with other fields/particles.

    PBS space time is a great channel for things like this

    https://youtu.be/G0Q4UAiKacw

    And here’s an easier intro to the topic

    https://youtu.be/kixAljyfdqU

      • @SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3•2 years ago

        Definitely. There’s always whole swathes of nuance and you have to do that. Even so I still find some of it hard to follow.

        Similar to viascience. Great introductory material that gets harder and harder the deeper you go.

        Which, to me, just speaks of the incredible depth of knowledge we have and astounds me that we figured out as much as we have as it gets less and less intuitive.

  • @Whirling_Cloudburst@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7•2 years ago

    Its better to not think of it as something we created in a lab. Higgs plays a part in making nature do what it does.

    If you want to learn more about the Higgs Mechanism, check out this video from PBS Space Time. You might also find some good info in the comments as well.

    Here is a space article.

    • @Newtra@feddit.deEnglish
      2•2 years ago

      Holy crap, how did I not know about Chris? I binge watch all the big physicist YouTubers.

      Thank you for mentioning him. My grey matter just got turned to mush by his 5-dimensional universe theory. I can’t wait to see how this affects MOND.

  • BrokkrEnglish
    0•2 years ago

    Sorry, can’t answer your question. Quick correction though, uranium is the highest atomic number that occurs nationally.

    Edit: so I’m wrong about this. In school we learned that it was uranium and that’s also what it said when I checked sources, but not enough. Apologies.