The Hypothesis

♤ SM theory says that as the universe cooled after the Big Bang, an invisible force known as the Higgs field was formed. The field can be pictured as a pool of molasses that sticks to the otherwise mass-

less elementary particles that pass through the field, converting them into particles with mass. The

more strongly a particle interacts with the field, the heavier it becomes. The mass-less particles, such as photons, do not interact at all with the Higgs field. The Higgs boson is assumed to be an