Talk:Higgs mechanism

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Question![edit]

Still in the introduction, after the second endpoint, it is written: "Below some extremely high temperature". What is the idea of ​​this passage? Written in this way, it seems that the author tries to say the mechanism occurs at low temperatures. So it is not clear what temperature the author refers to. I get the impression that the author meant "Subjected some extremely high temperatures" rather than "Below some extremely high temperatures". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lucenalex (talkcontribs) 12:43, 14 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

To editor Lucenalex: this is explained more in-depth at Spontaneous symmetry breaking#Higgs mechanism. Without detail as to what the temperatures/energy levels actually are, it does tell us that "At energies much greater than 100 GeV all these particles behave in a similar manner. The Weinberg–Salam theory predicts that, at lower energies, this symmetry is broken so that the photon and the massive W and Z bosons emerge."[1] Paine Ellsworth, ed.  put'r there  20:41, 7 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking, Bantam; 10th anniversary edition (September 1, 1998). pp. 73–74.

Spontaneous symmetry breaking of what?[edit]

"Below some extremely high temperature, the field causes spontaneous symmetry breaking during interactions."

Spontaneous symmetry breaking of what?

Betaneptune (talk) 16:12, 22 April 2021 (UTC)betaneptune[reply]

I've been trying to understand the related section 'Simple explanation of the theory, from its origins in superconductivity', which is anything but simple, I'd call it incomprehensible. Here's my attempt at explaining it. A superconductor according to BCS is an organised collection of Cooper pairs, each of which according to QM would be a system with an arbitary phase (in other words, the state is a constant function times an arbitary phase factor). When we put these pairs together as per BCS we get a state that (as in the model of Gor'kov) has an order parameter which also has a phase factor (as featured in the theory of Ginzburg and Landau, which had no theoretical basis and was just designed to fit experiment). There'd be a symmetry property which would make the properties independent of the phase. It looks as if what the Higgs does is to complicate matters so that the phase symmetry is lost, and this also means that the excitations of the system develop a mass. This as noted accords with Goldstone's connection between symmetry breaking and mass.
OK, it's not that simple, but I hope it makes more sense to people than the obscure current version.--Brian Josephson (talk) 22:03, 9 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move 15 April 2019[edit]

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

No consensus. See no general agreement and small amount of participation after two weeks and one relist. As is usual with a no-consensus outcome, editors can strengthen their arguments and try again in a few months to garner consensus to rename this article. Kudos to editors for your input, and Happy Publishing! (nac by page mover) Paine Ellsworth, ed.  put'r there  23:05, 30 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]


Higgs mechanismBrout-Englert-Higgs mechanismCERN calls it so, and even mentiones it in its writing guidelines. it seems not so fair that the persons explaining it earlier, and more detailed, are not mentioned. (talk) 08:27, 15 April 2019 (UTC)--Relisted. – Ammarpad (talk) 11:48, 22 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

  • Oppose. We don't choose an article title based on fairness, we choose it based on what the common name is, and "Higgs mechanism" is the most common name. Rreagan007 (talk) 16:56, 16 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Undiscussed move[edit]

Npettiaux, I have undone your move of this article to Brout–Englert–Higgs–Guralnik–Hagen–Kibble mechanism. Potentially controversial moves must not be done without discussing first. See Wikipedia:Requested moves/Controversial. Note that changing the article name has come up before. Wikipedia articles use the most commonly used name for a topic, which may not be the "official" name. See WP:COMMONNAME. StarryGrandma (talk) 23:12, 2 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Short range field[edit]

In various places it is suggested in the article that the Meissner effect in superconductivity is associated with short range interactions. I'm not aware of it ever having been thought of in these terms, but rather that (as per the Londons' equations) there is a surface current layer that screens the field from the interior, just like the skin effect that occurs at high frequencies in ordinary metals. --Brian Josephson (talk) 22:12, 9 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]