higgs boson: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples

The nickname originates from the title of a 1993 book by physicist Leon Lederman, who reportedly wanted to call it the 'goddamn particle' due to its elusiveness. The publisher preferred 'God particle'. The term is disliked by many scientists as it is sensationalist and misleading.

Not directly 'seen'. Its existence is inferred from the detection of its decay products in particle colliders like the LHC at CERN. The pattern of these products matches predictions for the Higgs boson with extremely high statistical significance.

The Higgs field is an invisible energy field that permeates all space. The Higgs boson is a tiny, transient ripple or excitation in that field. Interacting with the field gives particles mass; detecting the boson proved the field exists.

No. It gives mass to fundamental particles like quarks and electrons via the Higgs mechanism. However, over 99% of the mass of ordinary matter comes from the binding energy that holds protons and neutrons together, not from the Higgs field.

A fundamental particle in the Standard Model of particle physics, whose associated quantum field gives other elementary particles their mass.

Higgs boson is usually exclusively scientific/technical; sometimes used in popular science journalism. in register.

Higgs boson: in British English it is pronounced /ˌhɪɡz ˈbəʊzɒn/, and in American English it is pronounced /ˌhɪɡz ˈboʊzɑːn/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.