The renowned scientist won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2013.
  • ImperialATAT@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I studied his work over 20 years ago. I had no idea he was alive at the time. I just figured he long gone like all the other pioneers.

    • UraniumBlazer@lemm.eeEnglish
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      4 months ago

      No. There are two types of particles. Particles that go at light speed and particles that don’t.

      The particles that don’t go at light speed don’t do this because they have rest mass. The particles that do go at light speed do so because they have no rest mass. They are massless.

      Now what makes massless and massful particles different? This is where the Higgs Boson comes in. There is a field called the Higgs field, which is made by the Higgs Boson.

      Particles that interact with the Higgs field are massful. Particles that don’t are massless. They thus can go at the speed of light.

      For example, photons (that make light) do not interact with the Higgs Field. Hence, they go at light speed. Electrons however do interact with the Higgs field. They thus have rest mass. They thus do not go at light speed.

      The Large Hadron Collider verified the existence of the Higgs boson. This is what the “god particle” stories were about in the past decade.

      • cordlesslamp@lemmy.today
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        4 months ago

        So, if we can somehow manipulate the Higgs field or the Higgs boson, we can make something “massless” and travel at speed of light? Maybe even with zero time dilation since they have no mass to cause a gravitational field to slow down time?

        • UraniumBlazer@lemm.eeEnglish
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          4 months ago

          While my understanding of quantum physics is better than the average high schooler, it is still very limited (I possess no mathematical understanding of the standard model whatsoever among many things). Hence, you can gauge the probability of the correctness of my answer. Considering this, here’s my answer:

          We don’t know. We lack a lot of experimental data in quantum physics to answer this question.

          • First, we have never observed a massless electron. Hence, we have no idea about what would happen if we could do as you said.
          • Then, we have no experimentally proven theory of quantum gravity. We simply have no idea how gravity functions at the quantum level. Let’s say we make the rest mass of a massful particle zero by manipulating the Higgs field. What would happen to its gravitational mass? All of general relativity is based on the assumption that inertial mass = gravitational mass. This is called the principle of equivalence. However, we don’t know if this stays true at the quantum level. We don’t even know if the goddamn graviton exists or not.

          So the answer is this: ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

        • Natanael@slrpnk.net
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          4 months ago

          The Wikipedia article says that at extreme temperature particles disconnect from the Higgs field and become massless. But note that we’re talking many many millions of degrees Celsius.

        • rbesfe@lemmy.ca
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          4 months ago

          This is like asking if we could manipulate the gravitational field to make ourselves weightless on earth. Both are fundamentally impossible

          • UraniumBlazer@lemm.eeEnglish
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            4 months ago

            Nothing is “impossible” in science. It’s difficult to experimentally prove negatives. Until we can experimentally prove something, we cannot pass any statements like these.

            For manipulating the gravitational field, we don’t even have a theory of quantum gravity. There is no evidence suggesting that you cannot manipulate it. However, there is no evidence suggesting that you can either.

            However, an absence of evidence for something does not mean that it cannot exist. It just means that we must not assume that it does exist.

            • rbesfe@lemmy.ca
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              4 months ago

              You clearly don’t understand field theory and what a field actually is. You cannot manipulate a field to suddenly not exist or behave differently in a specific location, otherwise its not a field and would not be mathematically congruent with our existing observations. We have very much proved that you cannot manipulate fields.

              Unless you feel like proposing a new model of physics that matches all of our existing observations and allows for your wacky nonsense, please stay quiet on the subject.

        • Natanael@slrpnk.net
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          4 months ago

          Yes, that’s what the field does. When particles has certain properties then their interaction with this field effectively acts as a “dampener” and this effect creates what we describe as mass.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_mechanism

          I looked for a simpler but accurate description and found one above that matched my own intuition for it - the interaction with the Higgs fields restricts the particle wavelength, this directly restricts its propagation too and this is also what makes it travel slower than light. And by traveling slower than light while having energy / momentum it must also have mass. The section describing it is under the superconduction headline.

  • JATth@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    He fixed the standard model of particle physics. He was also the reason why this was built to prove his theory.

  • rezifon@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I’m so happy he lived to see the discovery of the particle and the confirmation of his theory

    • mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      It’s really quite astonishing.

      Speaks to how quickly technology can advance over one’s lifetime and how much of a pioneer scientists are.