Higgs Boson

♤ The Higgs boson is a hypothetical (not found yet) fundamental particle (meaning it is not made of anything) which is one of the building blocks of the universe.

♤ There are other fundamental particles, but this one is special in that when the fundamental particles which make up matter interact with the Higgs boson, they acquire mass.

♤ Without this interaction, these particles would have no mass, and would travel at the speed of light, as does the photon.

♤ The significance of the word "Higgs" is that Peter Higgs* is one of the scientists who theorized this particle. In fact, there were three independent groups of scientists who theorized the Higgs mechanism in 1964 (Guralnik, Hagen, Kibble; Higgs; Englert, Brout).

♤ It is predicted by a theory called "the Standard Model* of particle physics*".

♤ Massive elementary particle whose mass is expected to be in the GeV* range [1 GeV=109 electron Volt (eV), a unit of mass and/or energy].