In the classical limit, three quarters of the mass-energy of the electron come from the energy of the electromagnetic field of its charge (see Electromagnetic Mass). Intuitively one would expect that the exact formula in the quantum limit may be different, but the general concept would remain, meaning that at least some mass of the … Read more
I am slowly going to develop intuition for dealing with Feynman diagrams but have a couple of problems understanding the following Feynman diagrams representing the Higgs production via gluon-gluon fusion (source paper: On the interpretation of Feynman diagrams, or, did the LHC experiments observe H→γγ by Oliver Passon): The notation of the triangle on the … Read more
There’s no guarantee that supersymmetry (or more exotic new physics) will be seen at the LHC. Meanwhile, it’s standard lore that a Higgsless standard model becomes nonunitary somewhere in the vicinity of 1 TeV. Are we at least guaranteed to get some positive information about new physics, in the form of deviations from the predictions … Read more
Is it correct in saying that a particles size is it’s rest energy, and that particles don’t actually have size (in the way you get different size objects)? What defines what sizes a particle can be? Why do particles have discrete sizes, and there’s not a continuous spectrum of particles varying in size? I ask … Read more
The wikipedia article on the Higgs mechanism states that there is overwhelming evidence for the electroweak higgs mechanism, but doesn’t then back this up. What evidence is there? Answer The simplest way to see that we need a Higgs is note first right down the Standard model without the Higgs particle, in particular the W … Read more
I’ve read that electroweak symmetry breaking occurred “at a picosecond or so” after the Big Bang (in a source I found). I can’t help wondering why it took so long to get started. For instance, was something missing up until then, which was needed by the Higgs mechanism? What feature(s) of the Higgs mechanism, or … Read more
The self energy of the electron can be represented in two ways: the energy required to bring a charge distribution from infinity to the size of the electron (assuming it is a point charge with no other structure) the work required for the electron to move against its own electric field. In the second instance, … Read more
To be more clear, are there any measurements or analysis done on the new particle to verify if it is SM Higgs boson and not a pseudo-dilaton. Answer Interpreting pseudo-dilaton with its usual meaning in this context, I can add some information to what John Rennie rightly stated. John Ellis wrote a very nice summary … Read more
I understand from the internet that the Higgs particle is highly unstable! It decays as soon as it is created. If it is so unstable, how one can say that the Higgs field exist? Just like, if photons are unstable, there won’t be electromagnetic field. I cannot imagine a field whose particle is highly unstable. … Read more
I am a little unclear on what ramifications a negative quartic at high energies has on our world at low energies. (1) First of all, is it that there is a second, isolated minimum that appears at higher energies, or is it just that the original minimum at 246 GeV was modified under RG? (2) … Read more