A Philosophical Look at the Higgs Mechanism

On the occasion of the recent experimental detection of a Higgs-type particle at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the paper reviews philosophical aspects of the Higgs mechanism as the presently preferred account of the generation of particle masses in the Standard Model of elementary particle phys...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:

Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:	Journal for general philosophy of science 2014-10, Vol.45 (2), p.335-350
1. Verfasser:	Friederich, Simon
Format:	Artikel
Sprache:	eng
Schlagworte:	Boson fields Broken symmetry Education Expected values Gauge theory History Magnetic fields Methodology of the Social Sciences Particle interactions Particle mass Philosophy Philosophy of Education Philosophy of Science Quantum field theory Quantum mechanics Social Sciences SPECIAL SECTION: ON THE HIGGS MECHANISM Symmetry
Online-Zugang:	Volltext
Tags:	Tag hinzufügen Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!

Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:	On the occasion of the recent experimental detection of a Higgs-type particle at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the paper reviews philosophical aspects of the Higgs mechanism as the presently preferred account of the generation of particle masses in the Standard Model of elementary particle physics and its most discussed extensions. The paper serves a twofold purpose: on the one hand, it offers an introduction to the Higgs mechanism and its most interesting philosophical aspects to readers not familiar with it; on the other hand, it clarifies widespread misunderstandings related to the role of gauge symmetries and their breaking in it.
ISSN:	0925-4560 1572-8587
DOI:	10.1007/s10838-014-9257-5