The Higgs Boson which was tentatively confirmed to exist on 14 March 2013 appears to confirm the existence of the Higgs field. Its discovery is pivotal to the Standard Model and other theories within particle physics because it explains, in terms of an asymmetry created by it why some fundamental particles have mass when the symmetries controlling their interactions should require them to be massless. Many feel this discovery will allow physicists to finally validate the last untested area of the Standard Model’s approach to fundamental particles and forces, guide other theories and discoveries in particle physics, and potentially lead to developments in New Physics.
However it may also provide a way of integrating the Standard Model into Einstein’s gravitational theory because it would allow one to physically connect its particle concept of mass associated with the Higgs field to the field properties Einstein associated with gravity.
As Steven Weinberg said “Mass tells space-time how to curve while space-time tells mass how to move”.
In other words Einstein was only able to explain how the field properties of space interact to create gravity while the Standard Model defines how the asymmetry of those fields gives particles their mass.
However this suggests that one may be able to integrate the Standard Model into Einstein’s concept of gravity if one can define a common physical mechanism responsible for how Higgs field breaks the symmetry of space-time to create mass while at the same time explaining how and why its field properties interact to create gravity.
Einstein gave us a method for accomplishing this when he said “If a new theory (such as that associated with the Higgs boson) was not based on a physical image simple enough for a child to understand, it was probably worthless.”
For example Newton was troubled by the fact that that his gravitational theory meant .” that inanimate brute matter should, without the mediation of something else which is not material, operate upon and affect other matter without mutual contact…That gravity should be innate, inherent, and essential to matter, so that one body may act upon another at a distance through a vacuum, without the mediation of anything else, by and through which their action and force may be conveyed from one to another, is to me so great an absurdity that I believe no man who has in philosophical matters a competent faculty of thinking can ever fall into it.”
However Einstein realized that one can understand how gravity “may act upon another at a distance through a vacuum” by extrapolating the physical image of how objects move on a curve surface in a three-dimensional environment to a curved four dimensional space-time manifold. This allowed him to conceptually understand gravity in terms of a physical image based on our three-dimension environment.
In other words the mathematics developed by Newton was only able to quantitatively predict gravitational forces while Einstein gave us the ability to conceptually understand why “one body may act upon another at a distance” by physically connecting it to the reality of what we can see and touch.
However, as mentioned earlier he was unable to tell us what mass is, he was only able tell us how mass interacts with space-time.
Similarly the Standard Model is able to define mass in terms of the symmetry breaking properties of the Higgs field however it is unable to define in terms of a physical image of how it interacts with the field properties of space-time to create gravity or the forces associated with mass.
This fact is difficult to understand because the Standard model is based on a Relativistic Quantum Field theory which has its foundation in Einstein’s Theories. Therefore one would think that it would be easy to integrate it into them.
However Einstein’s and modern scientist’s inability to connect the Standard Models explanation for mass to Einstein’s explanation of gravity can be traced to the fact that they chose to define the universe in terms of energy instead of mass.
Einstein told us that a curvature in the field properties of space-time is responsible for gravitational energy and because of the equivalence between energy and mass defined by his equation E=mc^2 one must also assume that it is responsible for mass.
This suggest that one may be able to incorporate Einstein’s explanation of the gravity into the Standard Model if one converts or transposes the his space-time universe which defines field properties of energy in terms of geometry of space-time to one that defines mass of in terms of its field properties.
Einstein gave us the ability to do this when he used the constant velocity of light and the equation E=mc^2 to define the dynamic balance between mass and energy because that provided a method of converting the space-time displacement he associated with energy in a space-time universe to one we believe he would have associated with mass in a universe consisting of only four *spatial* dimensions. Additionally because the velocity of light is constant he also allows us to defined a one to one quantitative and qualitative correspondence between his space-time universe and one made up of four *spatial* dimensions.
In other words by defining the geometric properties of a space-time universe in terms of mass/energy and the constant velocity of light he provided a qualitative and quantitative means of redefining his space-time universe in terms of the geometry of four *spatial* dimensions.
The fact that the equation E=mc^2 allows us to both qualitatively and quantitatively derive the spatial properties of energy in a space-time universe in terms of its spatial properties in four *spatial* dimensions is the bases for assuming as was done in the article “Defining energy†Nov 27, 2007 that all forms of energy/mass, including that associated with the Higgs field can be derived in terms of a spatial displacement in a “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension.
However changing ones perspective on the geometric structure of the universe form one of space-time to four *spatial* dimensions, as was just shown to be possible gives one the ability to define the physical mechanism by which the Higgs Field or the field properties of four *spatial* dimensions interacts with particles to create mass and why they are quantized in terms of a physical image formed in our three-dimensional environment.
For example one can form a physical image of why mass is quantized, as was done in the article “Why is energy/mass quantized?” Oct. 4, 2007 by extrapolating the image of a wave and its resonant properties in three dimension environment to one made up of four *spatial* dimensions.
This would be analogous to how Einstein, as mentioned earlier was able to explain gravity by extrapolating the physical image of how objects move on a curved surface of three-dimension space to one consisting of four dimensional space-time.
(Louis de Broglie was the first to predict the existence of the wave properties of mass when he theorized that all particles have a wave component. His theories were confirmed by the discovery of electron diffraction by crystals in 1927 by Davisson and Germer).
Briefly that article showed the four conditions required for resonance to occur in a classical environment, an object, or substance with a natural frequency, a forcing function at the same frequency as the natural frequency, the lack of a damping frequency and the ability for the substance to oscillate spatial would be meet in one consisting of four.
The existence of four *spatial* dimensions would give a matter wave that Louis de Broglie associated with a particle the ability to oscillate spatially on a “surface” between a third and fourth *spatial* dimensions thereby fulfilling one of the requirements for resonance to occur.
These oscillations would be caused by an event such as the decay of a subatomic particle or the shifting of an electron in an atomic orbital. This would force the “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold to oscillate with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension at a frequency associated with the energy of that event.
However, the oscillations caused by such an event would serve as forcing function allowing a resonant system or “structure” to be established in four *spatial* dimensions.
Physical observations of our three dimensional environment tell us that resonant systems can only take on the discrete or quantized energies associated with a fundamental or a harmonic of their fundamental frequency
Therefore, these resonant systems in the field properties of four *spatial* dimensions would define mass and its quantum mechanical properties in terms of the Standard Model because of the fact that the volumes of space containing them would have a higher concentration of energy and therefore the mass associated with those volumes would be greater.
However can also understand in terms of a “physical image” of the boundaries of the point particles of the Standard Model using the above concepts.
In classical physics, a point on the two-dimensional surface of paper is confined to that surface. However, that surface can oscillate up or down with respect to three-dimensional space.
Similarly an object occupying a volume of three-dimensional space would be confined to it however, it could, similar to the surface of the paper oscillate “up” or “down” with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension.
The confinement of the “upward” and “downward” oscillations of a three-dimension volume with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension is what defines the geometric boundaries of the “box” containing the resonant system the article “Why is energy/mass quantized?” associated with a particle.
(The reasons why particles can be treated as a mathematical points in the Standard Model is because according to the above theoretical model the components of their energy/mass and forces associated with them would be evenly distributed around the centre of mass or the resonant structure in the article “Why is energy/mass quantized?” Oct. 4, 2007)
However this suggest the symmetry breaking properties the Standard Model associates with the Higgs field may be related to the geometric properties of four *spatial* dimensions.
If true one should be able to use those field concepts to explain how it interacts with particles to give them mass and why the mass of the corresponding particle types across the three fundamental families of particles in the Standard Model listed in the table below grows larger in each successive family.
| Family 1 | Family 2 | Family 3 | |||
| Particle | Mass | Particle | Mass | Particle | Mass |
| Electron | .00054 | Muon | .11 | Tau | 1.9 |
| Electron Neutrino | < 10^-8 | Muon Neutrino | < .0003 | Tau Neutrino | < .033 |
| Up Quark | .0047 | Charm Quark | 1.6 | Top Quark | 189 |
| Down Quark | .0074 | Strange Quark | .16 | Bottom Quark | 5.2 |
As mentioned earlier the article “Why is energy/mass quantized?†showed that one can derive the mass of a particle in terms of the energy contained within a resonant system generated by a matter wave on a “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension while the article “Defining energy” showed that one can derive the energy or temperature of an environment in terms a displacement in the same three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension.
Therefore using the concepts developed in those articles one could derive the total mass of a particle in terms of the sum of the energies associated with that resonant structure and the displacement in the “surface” of three-dimensional space associated with the energy of the environment it is occupying.
Yet Classical Mechanics tells us there will be specific points in space where the matter wave that Louis de Broglie associated with a particle can interact with the energy content or temperature of its environment to form a resonant system.
Therefore, the mass of each family member would not only be dependent on the energy associated with the resonant system that defined their quantum mechanical properties in the article “Why is energy/mass quantized?†but also on temperature or energy of the environment they are occupying.
Thus suggest the reason “The corresponding particle types across the three families in the Standard Model have identical properties except for their mass, which grows larger in each successive family.” is because of an interaction between the resonant properties defined in the article “Why is energy/mass quantized?†and the mass content of the environment they are occupying.
This means the particles in the first family would be found in relativity low energy environments, are relatively stable, and for the most part can be observed in nature. However, the particles in the second and third families would be for the most part unstable and can be observed only in high-energy environments of particle accelerators. The exception is the Muon in the second family, which is only observed in the high-energy environment of cosmic radiation.
The relative masses of the fundamental particles increases in each successive family because the higher-energy environments where they occupy would result in the corresponding particles in each successive family to be formed with a greater relative “separation” in the “surfaces†of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension.
Therefore, the corresponding particles in the second family will have a greater mass than the particles in the first family because the “separation”, with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension of the three-dimensional space manifold associated with them is greater than the “separation” associated with the first family.
Similarly, the corresponding particles in the third family will have a greater mass than those in the second family because the “separation”, with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension, of the three-dimensional space manifold associated with them is greater than the spatial “separation” associated with the second family.
Additionally the corresponding particle types across the three families have “identical properties” because as shown in the article “The geometry of quarks” Mar. 15, 2009 they are related to the orientation of the “W” axis of the fourth *spatial* dimension with the axis of three-dimensional space. Therefore, each corresponding particle across the three families will have similar properties because the orientation of the “W” axis of the fourth *spatial* dimension with respect to the axis of three-dimensional space is the same for the corresponding particles in all of the families.
This explains why “The corresponding particle types across the three families having identical properties except for their mass, which grows larger in each successive family†in terms of the asymmetrical field of four *spatial* dimensions.
However it also shows how one can use the asymmetrical field properties of four *spatial* dimensions or the Higgs Field to understand the causality of the masses of the fundamental particles in the Standard model in terms of a physical image based on the “reality” of what we can see and touch in our three dimensional environment. This is similar to how Einstein, as mentioned earlier was able to shown that a mass “may act upon another at a distance through a vacuum” by extrapolating the physical image of how objects move on a curve surface in a three-dimensional environment to a curved four dimensional space-time manifold.
As mentioned earlier the article “Why is energy/mass quantized?†showed that one can derive the total mass of all particles in terms of the sum of energy contained within a resonant system generated by a matter wave on a “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension and the energy associated with displacement in the “surface” of three-dimensional space associated the environment it is occupying.
However if one assumes, as was done above the Higgs field is created by a spatial displacement in the “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension one can also understand how its asymmetric properties interacts with particles to create their mass in terms of the physical image formed by water in a dam.
This is because the potential energy of water molecule in a dam is defined by its asymmetrical spatial separation with respect to the bottom of the dam.
Similarly, according to the above theoretical model, the potential energy or mass contained in particles would be defined by an asymmetrical displacement in a “surface” of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension.
In other words it gives one the ability to define the asymmetrical properties the Standard Model associates with the Higgs field in terms of a physical image of water in a dam because as mentioned earlier its potential energy is in part dependent on the height of the dam while that of a particle would be dependent on magnitude of the spatial separation or the “height” of the three-dimension space manifold it is occupying with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension.
However, as was mentioned earlier Einstein also defined gravity in terms of an asymmetrical displacement or curvature or a “surface” of a three dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension or a space-time manifold.
This suggest that one may be able to unite the Standard Model with Einstein’s concept of gravity with if one can find a way of integrating the effects an asymmetrical curvature in “surface” of a three-dimensional manifold with respect to either space-time or a higher or fourth *spatial* dimension would have on a particle with the asymmetrical properties of the Higgs field.
It should be remember that Einstein’s genius allows us to choose whether to view the reality of the Higgs Field in either a space-time environment or one consisting of four *spatial* dimension when he defined the geometry of space-time in terms of energy/mass and the constant velocity of light.
Later Jeff
Copyright Jeffrey O’Callaghan 2014