Higgs field

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The Higgs field, named after the British physicist Peter Higgs, is a postulated quantum field, mediated by the Higgs boson, which is believed to permeate the entire universe. Its presence is said to be required in order to explain the large difference in mass between those particles which mediate weak interactions (the W and Z bosons) and that which mediates electromagnetic interactions (the photon).

With the next generation of particle accelerators, especially the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, which as of 2006 is still under construction, CERN scientists will try to look for particle interactions characteristic of the Higgs Field.

On August 20, 2006 it was reported that Japanese physicists are working on a project, based on the established phenomenon known as the Higgs field (involving false vacuums and Z bosons) to create a baby universe.[1]

[edit] In popular culture

In the 2002 adaptation of the film Solaris, one of the characters speculates that the strange visitors' existence is possible due to the fact that their atoms are kept together by a Higgs field.