Where does the Higgs field come from?
Can't play sound? The illustrated version is right below.
Read the transcript
The full narration of the video.
A fridge magnet sticks to the door because the magnet makes an invisible magnetic field all around it. So what about the Higgs field? Who makes that one? The Higgs field is something spread through the entire universe. Particles that touch it get their weight.
Let's hunt for its source. Suspect number one: is something sending it out, like a magnet does? No. A magnet's field gets weaker the farther you go. The Higgs field is equally strong everywhere, with no center to find. Suspect number two: do particles carry it around with them?
No again. Take everything out of a patch of space. Leave nothing at all. The Higgs field is still there. Suspect number three: did the Big Bang spray it out? Now we're getting close. When the universe was born, the Higgs field was already there. But it was at zero, like a dial turned all the way down.
So here's the answer: it has no source. Nothing sends it out. It comes built into space itself. It's as if every spot in space has its own dial. So how did the dial turn up from zero? Look at the bottom of a wine bottle. The middle bulges up, with a groove running around it. Put a marble on top of the bump, and it can't stay put.
The young universe was so hot that everything shook hard, keeping the marble in the middle, so the dial stayed at zero. Less than a billionth of a second after the Big Bang, the universe cooled. The marble rolled off into the groove, and it never came back. From that moment on, every dial everywhere sat at the same spot, above zero. The Higgs field was switched on.
Once it was on, electrons that dealt with it gained weight. The more a particle deals with it, the heavier it gets. Light doesn't deal with it at all, so light has no weight and always travels at top speed. If it had never switched on, electrons would weigh almost nothing. Atoms couldn't hold together, so there'd be no stars, and no you.
But here's a surprise: less than two percent of your own weight comes straight from it. Most of the rest comes from the force inside every atom's core that binds tiny pieces tightly together. In twenty twelve, scientists smashed particles together in a giant ring-shaped machine, and finally caught a little ripple in the Higgs field. It's called the Higgs boson.
Back to our question: what is the source of the Higgs field? There isn't one. It comes with space, and when the universe cooled, it switched on. As for why it switched on at all, and why it landed at exactly this strength, nobody knows yet. Got a question about the universe you can't figure out? Leave it in the comments.
A fridge magnet’s field has a source
A magnet makes an invisible field around itself. That’s why it sticks to the fridge.
So what about the Higgs field? It spreads through the whole universe, and particles that touch it get their weight. But who makes it? Let’s check three suspects, one by one.
Is something sending it out?
A magnet’s field gets weaker the farther you go. The Higgs field is equally strong everywhere. There’s no center, so there’s no “thing sending it out.”
Do particles carry it around?
Take everything out of a patch of space until nothing is left — and the Higgs field is still there. Nothing has to carry it.
Did the Big Bang spray it out?
When the universe was born, the Higgs field was already there. But it sat at zero, like a dial turned all the way down.
Every spot in space comes with a dial
So here’s the answer: it has no source.
Nothing sends it out. It comes built into space itself — as if every spot in space has its own dial, and today every dial sits at the same setting.
The marble on the bottom of a wine bottle
The bottom of a wine bottle bulges up in the middle, with a groove running around it. A marble on top of the bump can’t stay put.
The young universe was so hot that everything shook hard, keeping the marble in the middle — the dial stayed at zero. Less than a billionth of a second after the Big Bang, the universe cooled, and the marble rolled off into the groove for good. From that moment, the Higgs field was “on.”
Dial on: electrons get weight, light doesn’t
The more a particle deals with the Higgs field, the heavier it is. Light doesn’t deal with it at all, so light has no weight and always travels at top speed.
If it had never switched on, electrons would weigh almost nothing. Atoms couldn’t hold together — so no stars, and no you.
But only a sliver of your weight comes from it
Most of the rest comes from the force inside every atom’s core that binds tiny pieces tightly together. So the Higgs field gives electrons their weight and lets atoms form — but most of what the bathroom scale shows doesn’t come from it.
2012: catching a ripple in the field
In a giant ring-shaped machine in Europe, scientists smashed tiny particles together and finally caught a little ripple in the Higgs field — the Higgs boson. That proved the field is real.
Why it switched on at all, and why it landed at exactly this strength — nobody knows yet.
