Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

marouane53 t1_irqx62r wrote

The Standard Model Axion Seesaw Higgs, or SMASH, particles are a proposed type of particle that could explain the observed mass of the Higgs boson. The Higgs boson is the particle that gives other particles their mass, and its mass is thought to be generated by the Higgs field. However, the Higgs field is not strong enough to generate the observed mass of the Higgs boson. One possible explanation for this is that the Higgs field is coupled to a new type of particle, called the SMASH particle. The SMASH particle would be much heavier than the Higgs boson, and its presence would give the Higgs boson the mass that is observed.

6

Psyese t1_irwbss2 wrote

Is adding new particles just a simple cop-out sulution or kind of hack in physics? First they had a problem and proposed Higgs. Then they had an issue with the Higgs. What to do? Just add another particle! When will it end?

2

Badger_Wadger_420 t1_is0tpmb wrote

Absolutely yes it’s the cop-out solution. The reason it’s done is because this is the most fundamental level of nature and therefore anything unaccounted for in our current list of fundamental constituents of the universe, in this case how the Higgs boson is heavier than the Higgs field should let it be, these unexplained things must be the result of other “fundamental constituents” we haven’t found yet. That is, in this case, there must be another elementary particle that covers this property hence we propose a new particles existence. In fact this exact approach is how we came up with the Higgs boson at all; Peter Higgs proposed the existence of the Higgs boson in the 50s but we didn’t experimentally find it in the real world until the 2010s. It’s absolutely a cop-out but it’s as simple as “if my this thing isn’t what my knowledge tells me it should be, there must be more knowledge I haven’t found yet”

3

Psyese t1_is13j7q wrote

So is me stubbing toe unto my bed corner also a particle? Every thime I go around my bed there's a certain probability distribution of me stubbing my toe, and when I stub my toe the wavefunction collapses. I'll call it Stubtoe particle.

/s

Sorry, but this is the way I understand all these new particles in physics.

2