¿What is a Higgs Boson?

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced this week thanks to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator in the world, achieved a breakthrough that will not only be key to understanding the structure of matter, it opens a window that can revolutionize our understanding of the universe.

Why this particle is known as the Higgs?

Because the British physicist Peter Higgs of the University of Edinburgh, who was conceived theoretically in 1964. Over time, the Higgs theory was strong, and the search for this particle became part of the main goals of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. To show that Higgs was right it took nearly 50 years, the work of thousands of scientists around the world and the construction of this gigantic collider, the largest scientific experiment in human civilization (it cost $ 10 billion).

What properties are what make it so important to the Higgs boson?

The importance of the Higgs' boson ", which is big and heavy, thousands of times more than an electron, for example, is that it is a kind of 'magical creature', capable of conferring mass to all others, as interacts with them. The Higgs boson produces a field around it, that affects everything that gets in the way.

What if there is no 'magic particle'?

Everything in the universe, including us, would float freely around like ghosts, unable combinarnos with other particles. That is, without this particle, matter, as we know it would not exist.

What's with the 'boson'?

Is the name given to the class of subatomic particles that carry with them a force field. Since the force of gravity (the particle, the graviton, has not been found) or electromagnetism, among others.