WEBVTT - There Once Was a Boson Named Higgs 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:14.000 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:16.480 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. And 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:20.480 don't go away, uh just yet, know to the listener, 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:23.560 because I know the title of this of this podcast 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.840 has Higgs in it. Higgs boson. You know, it's LHC. 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.880 It's all that stuff. It's subotomic particles, is subatomic physics. 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:34.640 But please don't run off this yet, because here's here's 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:37.400 my take on all of this, just real quick, I 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:41.760 kind of look at subatomic particles and particle physics is 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:45.720 being kind of like a chocolate covered Urnal cake. I'm 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:49.120 talking about this yesterday, So chocolate covered Urnal cake. It's 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.440 it's great so long as you do not bite in 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:55.400 too far, as long as you know exactly how deep 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:57.760 to go into the subject, and everything's chocolate and nice. 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:01.320 Go too deep and things get confusing, confusing and awful 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:04.360 really really fast. That's just my personal take. I'm not 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:08.280 meaning to dump on physics or particle physics. It's very important, 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.200 and we're gonna stress the importance of Higgs and everything 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.400 in this episode. But we're very much approaching this from 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.440 the standpoint of we're going to break it down and 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:19.200 tell you what you need to know about it, and 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:20.840 we're not going to go so deep that we're gonna 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.440 hit Urnal cake. Yeah, and if if you're really disturbed 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:25.360 by the Urnal cake, just think of it as the 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:29.399 most decadant chocolate covered dessert, not a Urnal cake that 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:31.759 you could only take a couple of bites of. You'd 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.600 be very satisfied by anything else if you'd have a 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.959 tummy ache. Yeah, because this is one of those those topics. 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:39.560 It's really important. That's why it's in the news all 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:42.399 the time. But I feel like we have a tendency 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:46.679 to not read articles that are actually about higgs, or 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:48.920 to just we just sort of register, oh, there's something 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:51.120 happening with the Higgs, and you can go on like 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:53.440 that for months and months and never actually stop to 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:56.640 attempt to understand what it is. And then certainly scientists 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.640 face that disconnect to trying to explain something that's really 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.920 really complicated. It's it's right at the bleeding edge of 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:07.279 our understanding, and only that it's it's a it's really 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:11.320 interesting exciting stuff because it says something about the way 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:15.000 that our whole world is is stuck together and how 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:17.640 we actually exist. So we're gonna try to get to 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:21.400 the bottom of that today without too much urine in 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:23.520 the urine cake, too much chocolate and the chocolate cake, 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.880 so to speak. So why is it in the news, Well, 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:29.440 it's because in the past couple of weeks and we 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:32.320 should mention that we were recording this h what's the date, 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:39.320 July seventeen, Yeah, we're recording this July seventeen thereabouts eight. 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:41.560 I don't know what day it is. Yeah, you know, 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:44.680 they're abouts. That's the time bubble that we're trapped in 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.160 recording us. It's entirely likely there'll be a new development 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:49.440 before this goes live. We may or may not have 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:52.000 time to edit things that that's the case, So just 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.600 bear with us. Uh, if you if you're hearing this 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:57.120 six months from now and there's all this sort of 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.640 crazy news out there that has given us new to 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:04.840 the understanding of Higgs, please please do not become incensed 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:06.680 with us. Yeah, but but this is all the data 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:09.600 in here is going to be good bedrock regardless. So 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:11.680 the whole news is that, you know, we've been searching 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:14.280 for the Higgs boson for a while, we've been we've 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:18.200 been slamming stuff together in a particle accelerator, which we'll 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:20.079 get into in a minute. We've been give another word, 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:23.639 we've been conducting this massive experiment to try and glimpse 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.800 this particle, uh that only exists for a fraction of 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:30.920 a second. We think it theoretically should exist, and we 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.200 want to find it. And so they have spotted something 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.640 they think maybe it, but we're not sure yet. Yeah, 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:40.000 and it's important to say that that right now, physicists 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.400 are simply calling it Higgs, like uh, not the Higgs 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:48.400 Boson particle. So um. And the reason they're doing that 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:50.280 is because they have a bunch of data. They've got 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:51.760 a mountain of data. But they want to be really 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.200 careful about it because it could be just turned out 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:57.440 to be not the Higgs particle but a different particle, yeah, 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.560 or something more exotic version of it. It's a lot 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:03.480 is writing on finding it, though, because we'll discuss I mean, 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:07.120 the whole standard model of physics points towards its existence 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:11.160 right right, and everything else lines up in the standard model. Okay, 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:13.560 so everything that we can make sense and it we 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:17.279 we have plugged everything in. We can see where things 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:20.120 are working, and we just need this last bit of 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:22.880 the puzzle, and Higgs is it's it's the clue that 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.920 makes everything happen. Um. Let's talk about certain real quick. 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:29.680 But this is a multinational research center headquartered in Geneva, 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.080 and it houses the super collider that we've been talking about, 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:35.120 called the Large Hadron Collider. There are two teams of 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:39.240 about three thousand physicists, each one named ATLAS, and that's 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:43.960 led by Fabulo Legion note and the other CMS is 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:48.440 led by dr Incandeta, and they operate giant detectors in 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:53.640 the collider, sorting the debris from the primordial fireballs left 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:57.279 after protown collisions. Now I'll give you a quick run 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:00.200 throound the protoun collisions. Um. So in order to get 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.120 this situation where we have all this stuff we can 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:05.679 analyze and try and spot things like the higgs um 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:07.560 what we have at the l h C. It's this 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:12.440 massive track, all right, this massive ring of super conducting magnets, 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:17.159 about seventeen miles of these things, giant underground loop. It 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:20.440 spans France and UH in Switzerland. Ever, and I like 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.640 to think of it in terms of UH. If you 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:26.479 remember the Adams family. Gomez Adams had the trains that 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:28.280 he would set up, but he would set them up 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:30.680 so that he would eventually have two trains have a 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:33.520 head on collision and crash, a big fiery explosive crash 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:36.080 there on his his model train set. And this is 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:39.000 how they came up with the idea of LHD. Right, well, 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:41.560 maybe it's fun to think think of it that way. 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:43.800 That's the way I imagine it, because he would get 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:45.880 real giddy and you would just be watching the super 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:48.600 close as those things collided. And that's what we're doing. 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:52.159 So instead of using trains, um, we are sending two 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:54.960 beams of particles close to the speed of light through 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:58.080 that ring, each traveling in a different direction, all inside 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:01.600 of a vacuum. And then the collision and happens. All right, Um, 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:04.840 things get smashed apart, and in that moment, that this 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:10.159 moment of chaos, we can glimpse these just ephemeral particles 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:13.599 that only exist, Um, you know in the this that 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:18.599 minute sliver of time following such a catastrophe. And we 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.839 know the mass of the different particles, right, So for instance, 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:25.760 a proton is about a billion electric volts when it's 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:29.680 smashed and then it begins to decay UM. And so 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:34.520 there's a specific signature that each of these particles has, 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:38.839 and it's believed that that our friend Higgs, that particle 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:43.320 has has a very specific range I think between something 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:46.119 I'm around there. And so what they began to see 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.520 is these what they call data bumps in this decay factor, 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:54.039 these signatures, and last winter they reported these hints of 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:58.280 this particle, this ghost of a particle in the machine UM, 0:06:58.320 --> 0:06:59.800 and they wanted to make sure it wasn't us to 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.920 hisstical fluke, and it wasn't. And they've been working with 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.839 from Labs to in in Illinois because they also have 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.479 a collider and trying to figure out, I, hey, is 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.200 this little ghost for seeing something a hint of what 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:13.520 could be the Higgs particle? Of course, you know who 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:18.800 else UM has a particle accelerator? Who the Ghostbusters if 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:23.600 you'll remember the proton pop packs were particle accelerators, That's right. 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.040 So so we're talking about very similar technology here, except 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:29.920 instead of being used to harness a spirit and uh 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:34.720 and force it into a trap, we're instead just aiming 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:36.280 them at each other. In a way, we're kind of 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:39.360 crossing the streams were just colliding streams, right, well, plasma 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:43.120 involved in both. Right. Yeah, Um, that was an attempt 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:44.800 at a at a Higgs joke. But but there are 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:47.240 a lot of attempts at Higgs jokes going on right now. 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:50.000 It's a it's a rich area of comedy. Well, and 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.520 this is the reason, I think, because because everybody knows 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.160 that it's it's it's exciting news. It could change our 0:07:56.280 --> 0:08:00.560 view of physics. Uh. And yet it's such a weighty 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:04.160 topic that I think that it's gotten some fuel here 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:07.720 from from comedy because you know, it's very hard to understand, 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:09.560 and yet people are trying to put it in terms 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:13.720 that makes sense of it and a little um less 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:15.560 afraid of it too, because it's gonna be intimidating. It's 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:18.560 like particle physics. But you throw in a joke about it, 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:20.800 then it's a little more relatable. Well you know, it's 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:23.000 fat joke. There are a lot of fat jokes about it, 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:27.400 mass jokes. Yeah. Um. Holly Fry from pop Stuff actually 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:30.360 was talking to me yesterday about the whole brew haha 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:34.360 about comic sands, the font that was used by CERN 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:40.000 in their power point slide when they were discussing their 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:44.560 discovery of this Higgs like particle, and people are just outraged. 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:47.000 Comics Sands, Is that the one that looks like illuminated 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:51.439 stand um? Yeah? Yeah, it actually is a font. It's 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:54.080 a font that is intended for children, was designed for 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:58.120 that purpose. It's very easy to read. Um. But people 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:00.839 are like, really like this huge relation that is going 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:03.800 to be now released into the world with that font um, 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:06.000 and people are going nuts. Ober. I think it's really 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:07.760 funny there they were. They were torn between that one 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:12.160 and the blood drippy font you know, one of the two. Yeah, yeah, 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:17.400 or maybe like the nineteen twenties like Broadway font um. 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:19.800 But anyway, I think that, you know, maybe it was intentional. 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:22.680 Maybe they felt like if they took this really simplistic 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:26.400 font and um and then gave all this really heavy 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:31.439 information that people would be more psychic psychologically primed to 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:34.880 be like, okay, I can get this who knows um. 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.200 But there's a bunch of big Higgs jokes going around 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.760 to Here's one Higgs Boston walks into a Catholic church 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:43.680 pret says, what are you doing here? Higgs Boston says, 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:48.480 you can't have mass without me? Yeah, because yeah, well, 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:50.600 we'll explain that later. Yeah, we're gonna get into that. 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:54.280 All right. We should probably set aside Higgs jokes unless 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:55.600 you have any more. Now, I mean, that's a good 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:57.920 example of one, right there. Um. I mean, because a 0:09:57.920 --> 0:09:59.760 lot of them legacy come down to wait, they come 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:02.120 down mass, because the Higgs is very tied up in 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:06.439 this idea of mass and why does anything have mass? Uh, 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:09.079 So we need to talk a little bit about standard 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:15.080 model now. The the thing about standard model UM is 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:18.880 that it's about explaining the complexity of our universe. It's 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:22.000 about trying to really get down to what makes up 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:26.839 the universe, what are the rules concerning its structure. So 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:29.680 it's it's really important. You know, we're talking about the 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:31.840 the structure of the universe, the origins of the universe. 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:33.920 It's very hard, but it's also kind of like the 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:36.600 old It reminds me of the you know, the analogy 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:39.160 of the elephant, the blind men grasping of the elephant. 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:41.560 And in the past we've you know, various areas of 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:43.840 science have been touching one part of the elephant is saying, 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:45.640 oh it's a tree, Oh it's a snake, Oh it's 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.960 a it's a it's it's a sale or something that's 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.240 a giant pancake, it's a wall. But what we really 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:55.160 want is a more complete vision of what the universe 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:58.240 is and how it works, and so standard models an 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:02.280 attempt to do that. Um. Yeah, And for historical context, 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:03.760 you should point out that in the early days of 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:07.360 the twentieth century, particle physics was really in its infancy, 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:10.400 and we're talking about you know, just knowing about two particles, 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:14.760 protons and electrons. That was the extent of our knowledge. Yeah, 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.960 I mean, we discovered adams and protons, neutrons, electrons, quarks 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:22.120 and leptons eventually, So when we keep diving deeper. Uh 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:28.040 and and so uh enter the standard model, which describes 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:31.679 the universe as being made of twelve different matter particles 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:35.640 and four forces. Okay, those twelve particles include six quarks, 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:39.160 six leptons, but don't worry about that right now. Uh. 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:44.520 And then it also involves these four forces gravity, electromagnetic force, 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:48.959 strong force, and weak force. Yes, and those I think 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.320 are a lot easier to grasp. Um. Those those different forces, 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:54.880 they work over different ranges and they have different strengths. 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:57.680 Gravity is the weakest, but it has an infinite range. 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:01.640 The electromagnetic force so has an infinite range, but it's 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:05.080 many times stronger than gravity. The weak and strong forces 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.440 are effective only over a short, very short range and 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:11.840 dominate only at the level of sub atomic particles. So 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:15.280 that's really where Higgs Boston becomes important here. Um, and 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:17.560 despite its name, the weak force is much stronger than 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:21.560 gravity that it is actually the weakest of of the 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:24.680 other three the strong forces, as that the name says, 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:29.280 the strongest of the forces. Yeah, the theory proposes that electricity, magnetism, light, 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:33.000 and some types of radioactivity are all manifestations of that 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:38.240 single electroweak force. Uh. So it unites the electromagnetic and 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:40.960 weak forces, two of the four fundamental forces of nature, 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:44.280 along with strong force and gravity. But this theory only 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:48.000 holds water if the particles in question had no mass, 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.439 zero mass in the period immediately following the Big Bang. 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:57.000 So we this theory creates this situation where we have 0:12:57.160 --> 0:12:59.079 there has to be this time when they had no mass, 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:01.400 so there has to be something it is giving them mass. 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:05.680 We have to find a perpetrator, a suspect, somebody we 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.160 can pin mass itself on. So it's kind of like 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:10.600 somebody's been stealing the donuts. We don't know who, but 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:13.720 we know that person exists. We know that that donut 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.320 thief exists somewhere and we just have to spot them. 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:19.720 And in this case, the donut thief is the Higgs boson. 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:23.440 It is this is the particle that theoretically is well 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:27.520 not stealing donuts, but um is involved in the process 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:30.599 of giving things mass. Okay, Yeah, And three of the 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:36.160 fundamental forces result from the exchange of force carrier carrier particles. Okay, 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:40.360 and um, this belongs to the broader group called bosons. Right, 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.000 this is where Higgs boson comes in. So that is 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:46.160 this exchange, that's what's giving it mass. This is this 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:49.440 is what works in the equation. So all of these forces, 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.760 these four forces that we're talking about UM, theoretically then 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:56.560 aligned to a particular particle. That's right. So Um, you 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.200 know you've got each fund of fundamental force having its 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.959 own corresponding boson particle. The strong forces carried by the gluon, 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:07.400 the electromagnetic forces carried by the photon um little packets 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:09.920 of light as we know them, and the W and 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:15.079 Z bosons are responsible for the weak force. Yeahs Um particle. 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:18.000 Physicists don't like for you to call Higgs Boson the 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:20.080 god particle, but you can kind of think of these 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:26.000 little particles as gods of their corresponding UM force. Yeah, 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:28.920 in the w Z, it gets it gets complicated fast, 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:30.760 Like even just throwing this set, you guys are probably 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:33.040 w Z the glue on the dada. But if you 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.040 think about them all corresponding with those different forces, it's 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:39.360 a lot easier to to understand. Um. And then of 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:42.040 course you're policy sitting there saying what about gravity? Um, 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:44.680 Well it's you know, we haven't found this particle yet 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:48.160 to correspond with gravity, but um, we expect something called 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:52.000 the graviton to be a force caring particle of gravity, 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.760 and gravity is the problem of the standard model. Um. Now, 0:14:55.800 --> 0:15:00.240 according to CERN, it's not as big a problem as 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:03.000 we think it is. Though. Um. They seem to dawnplay 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:06.840 a bit. They say that fitting gravity comfortably into the 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:09.400 framework has proved to be a difficult challenge. The quantum 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:12.240 theory used to describe the micro world and the general 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.680 theory of relativity used to describe the macro world are 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:19.160 like two children who refused to play nicely together. Again, 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:22.120 these there's gonna be so many different examples when when 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:24.240 we come to talking about this, which is helpful, right 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:26.160 because and now we're thinking about two kids not playing 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.400 with each other. They say, no, one has managed to 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:30.840 make the two mathematically compatible in the context of the 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:33.800 Standard Model. But luckily for particle physics, when it comes 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:36.640 to the minuscule scale of particles, the effect of gravity 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.600 is so weak as to be negligible. So only when 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:42.640 we have matter in bulks, such as in ourselves or 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.800 in planets does the effect of gravity dominate. So the 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:50.000 standard model still works well despite its reluctant exclusion of 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:52.840 one of the fundamental forces. So again, two blind men, 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:57.360 varying ideas. It is the varying theories don't necessarily mess 0:15:57.400 --> 0:15:59.880 well with one right, So they're saying, okay, we we 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:01.800 you know that we have a missing part here, but 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:04.800 this is still sort of limping along in terms of 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:08.440 bearing out what we think is happening, and we expect 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:12.520 to find this other corresponding particle, so that out of 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:15.960 the way, and knowing that the Higgs boson is really 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:19.160 important here, that w n C that we're talking about, Um, 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:24.239 let's talk more specifically about this particle that is involved 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:27.280 in making the standard model work as best it can. 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:31.280 This particle uh emits what is called Higgs field. All right, 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:35.680 and this field and use all the particles that passed 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:39.720 through it with mass, this this powerful thing called mass. 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:44.320 This almost I mean, it's it's difficult to imagine the 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:46.400 universe without mass. We have to think when I'm talking 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:49.440 about this field. This field is the size of the cosmos. 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:51.720 It is that big of a field. It's not like, oh, 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.760 there's this field here, this one little doorway, this magic door, 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:57.760 and every particle that goes through it became uh a 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.840 masked object. So it's a thing like a photon. The 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:02.560 packet of light, right is going to go through this 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:04.920 field because it doesn't have any mass, It's just gonna 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:09.399 go through really quickly, right um. And then you'd have 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:13.080 something like the W and Z bosons, these elementary particles 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:16.119 that mediate the weak interaction, that force that we're talking about, 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:20.439 would get bogged down with mass. Um. Assuming that the 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:23.920 Higgs bosson really is existing in here. And and this 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:26.880 is what we found, and this is what's happening. Everything 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:30.200 that has mass gets it by interacting with this field. 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:33.120 As you say, yeah, there's a good Uh. The analogy 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:35.640 that I ran across the Everyway Light comes from John Gunion, 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:39.520 physicist at the University of California at Davis, and he 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.800 said that, in short, the Higgs field is a cosmos 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.720 sized swimming pool and everything is swimming in it. Particles 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:49.760 that interact strongly with the Higgs field like a heavy 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:53.520 set man swimming with his clothes on, um, are heavier 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:55.920 than particles that breathe through the pool like an a 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:59.960 Limics Olympic swimmer in a wetsuit. Uh. I like the 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.000 analogy very much, and I want to point out to 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:05.719 that there's a lot of confusion between the Higgs particle 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:08.240 in the field. Um. They are two different things, obviously, 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:11.399 but the Higgs particle is inseparable from its field, and 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:14.000 it is this exchange of particles with a background field 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:15.800 that is giving the mass. And I know I keep 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:18.560 repeating it, but it's good to understand that that the 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:22.040 muck that it's going through these exchanges. So what is 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:26.240 giving this stuff um some weight? Um. There is another 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:30.560 analogy that I liked quite a bit. Um because yes, 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:34.040 just because it's super silly. Martin Archer of physicist at 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:39.040 Imperial Imperial College of London explains it as, Uh, think 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:42.719 about Justin Bieber in a crowd of teenage girls. If 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:45.680 he tries to move through them, they slow him down 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.600 and his speed decreases the more they're attracted to him. 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:50.600 So he's having a lot of exchanges in this field, 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:53.920 as opposed to so and so, Uh through this crowd 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:57.200 of teenage girls who just passes through very quickly, and 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:01.360 it doesn't have any mass or isn't accumulating any mass 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:04.600 because this person is not having any exchanges with the 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:10.800 wildly gesticulating teenage girls. Yeah, alright, Yeah, I'm having a 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:12.560 hold back from throwing trying to throw in my own 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:16.680 and out because we've we're already weighted down with with analogies. Yeah, Marver, 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:19.200 we are interacting a lot with these analogy He's and 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:22.240 gaining mass um by the second here. But I also 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:23.800 want to point out one more though, because I think 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:25.920 it's a good way to enter into this conversation about 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:29.159 a large hattern collider. Turns out that Brian Cox, who 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:33.800 was a particle physicist and reactor, not the older awesome actor, 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.240 but the younger Rocks are scientists. Such. Yeah, that's what 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:40.560 they call him. Um, he's funny, he's great, and you 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:43.680 can see why he's doing so many talks on TED 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:47.119 because he's a great science communicator. Uh. But he was 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:50.840 talking about CERN and trying to get funding for this 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:54.520 and that They talked to Margaret Thatcher about it and 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:57.120 she said, you know, if you can tell us what 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:01.880 the deep this thing is, then you make it explainable 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.119 to politicians, then um, then I will give you the 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:06.520 funding for it. But you've got to come up with 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:09.360 some sort of analogy that works. Well, what what sort 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:11.640 of analogy do you think they use? That They used 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:18.119 the room analogy again, and they said, this really popular politician. Uh, 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:20.400 you know that people really wanted to interact coming through 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:22.879 the room getting slowed down. So I thought it was 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:26.040 interesting that that's where that analogy was first used and 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:28.840 that's what helped to get the funding for certain Yes, 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:30.480 all right, well, hey, we're going to take a quick 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:34.359 break and let let all of that gain some mass 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:36.119 in your head, and then when we come back, we 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:39.720 will bite once more into the chocolate covered journal cake 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:49.960 or just delicious decadentge slice of cake. All right, we're back, 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:56.320 so Higgs Higgs, Okay, I think we have a better understanding. Um. 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:59.560 You know, it's the forces of nature require that that 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:02.439 mecan is m to make sense, that standard model, and 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:05.480 Higgs to be a part of it, and as a byproduct, 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:07.879 you and I exist, we think because and this is 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:10.520 according to Brian Cox, because many of the particles that 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:13.120 make us up get at least part of their mass 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:15.240 through Higgs. So on a personal level, that's why it 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:17.680 should matter to us. Um. But let's talk about the 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:20.520 large Hydrin collider because we wouldn't even be talking about 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:22.440 this today if it weren't for for this giant machine 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:26.479 that we talked about, this seventeen mile circumference, this beast 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:29.480 lurking below. Yeah. Well we've got into it a little 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:31.920 bit already, but I like to add just a little 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:35.080 more detail. Um. I mentioned that racetrack and you just 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:38.680 mentioned as well, Um, you have seven thousand super conducting 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:42.760 magnets that are in there to steer the protons around. Okay, 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:46.520 so it's uh, it's it's not just a matter of oh, 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:48.360 this is the core, you know, because you think back 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:51.159 to like a like a little race cars and little courses. 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:53.560