Although Peter Higgs, namesake of the Higgs boson, proposed the particle in 1964 while at the University of Edinburgh, UK, several other researchers independently published similar theories at about the same time. Ahead of a seminar at CERN tomorrow, where it is looking likely that a Higgs boson discovery will be announced, New 女生小视频 speaks to two of these alternate Higgs fathers: Fran莽ois Englert, professor emeritus at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) in Belgium, and Tom Kibble, professor emeritus at Imperial College London.
Along with Peter Higgs, you have been invited to CERN on Wednesday. That seems like a pretty big clue that something exciting is going on. What are you expecting them to announce?
Tom Kibble: I don鈥檛 know, they are being very tight-lipped about it. It must be a significant announcement, presumably related to the existence of the Higgs. But whether they have actually found it definitively I wouldn鈥檛 know.
How are you feeling?
Fran莽ois Englert: I feel squeezed like a lemon 鈥� interviewers and people keep turning up unannounced at my office!
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Why is finding the Higgs important?
TK: It would confirm that the standard model is a good description of particle physics. There are lots of questions still unanswered. The standard model isn鈥檛 the end of the story by any means.
FE: Fundamental research is needed to make progress, which you cannot do solely by copying others. If you only do applied research, you quickly lose creativity. The curiosity of the human mind is essential if you want citizens who think rather than accept the first nonsense they come to.
What if it isn鈥檛 there after all?
FE: No bosons? Oh, I doubt that. That would be sad. In December there were indications, albeit with different statistical uncertainties. Nevertheless, when you have different uncertainties in the same place鈥� I am ready to bet now that they have it, but am not necessarily sure what kind of boson it is.
There are proposals to change the particle鈥檚 name to reflect its many fathers. What do you think?
TK: I don鈥檛 actually approve of any change to the particle鈥檚 name. It鈥檚 too late and these alternatives are too complicated. It is the case that Peter Higgs鈥� paper was the first to mention the boson itself in print so I don鈥檛 think it is unreasonable. I cringe when it is called the god particle.
FE: I don鈥檛 really like to add names to theories. I like to call it the scalar boson because this reflects an essential component of the theory 鈥� it means that the field the boson travels through has no preferred direction, unlike the way a magnetic field does.
What are your relationships like with the other people involved in the theory?
TK: It is amicable. My collaborators are of course, very good friends. I have known Peter Higgs for a long time, before all this. We have never collaborated, but we have always been on amicable terms when we have met. You often have different people doing basically the same thing. Of course, there is a tendency for everyone to believe that the way they did it was best because that is what you know, but all these groups made contributions.
FE: I am looking forward to meeting Higgs [at CERN tomorrow]. We have never met. We should have met at a conference a few years ago but the elements were against us. The Icelandic eruption meant that the conference was cancelled 鈥� the volcano didn鈥檛 want us to meet!
According to the Nobel prize criteria, only three of you can win it: who might it be?
TK: Who knows! I鈥檓 glad I don鈥檛 have to make that decision.
