Higgs-Boson Thought Experiment

[RR Edwards]

Warning

Be prepared for some wild speculation.

This is just an idea I had - a little tweak to string theory and the funny thing is, I started throwing what little I know about physics mysteries at it and it chewed them up and spit them out. Constructive feedback encouraged.

Some mysteries of the universe that might be solved by the Higgs-Boson:

1 Quantum Gravity

2 Wave-Particle Duality

3 Particle Probability Distributions

4 Electron Shells

5 Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle

6 Quantum Entanglement

7 Dark Energy

8 Dark Matter

9 Vacuum Catastrophe

10 The Casimir Effect

Preamble

What is a Higgs-Boson? In essence, a Higgs-Boson is a tiny particle that permeates space. Its not something we can directly measure or detect. Its presence can only be known when it interacts with other particles which can have the side effect of causing "mass". Current theory says that Higgs-Bosons create a uniform Higgs field throughout the universe.

Think of the pixels on a computer screen. Each pixel on a computer screen is analogous to a Higgs-Boson; however, this computer screen is 3 dimensional and fills the universe. On your computer screen, when a pixel is "on" it emits a color (other than black), when it is off, it is black. A Higgs-Boson, when it is on, it creates mass and when it is off, it is undetectable.

First let me wonder aloud and ask for specific feedback from anyone who might know the proper terminology pertaining Higgs-Bosons. I see professionals use the term in conflicting ways. That is, apparently it is popularly the term for the parent particle that decays when not in a high energy environment and which, after it decays, causes the Higgs Field and the Higgs effect.

However, I have also commonly heard it referred to as the specifically durable daughter particle that is directly causing the Higgs Field. I have also seen this form rarely referred to as the Higgs Particle as well. For some reason though, I want to call the parent the Higgs-Boson and the widely active particle a Higgs-Boson Condensate (HBC), but maybe this is inappropriate. It does seem to parallel BECs as a low energy state (apparently low).

OK - let me just say HBC for now.

1 - Quantum gravity

Gravity has been a persistent hindrance to unifying classical physics and quantum physics. The primary issue is that everything in classical physics has substantial mass, but many mechanisms in quantum physics are treated as points.

The problem with a point is that it takes up no space so an infinite number of points can occupy the same space and thus create infinite gravity. The mystery then is how to deal with infinite gravity as predicted by current quantum theory.

String theory was developed to deal with this problem. That is, if instead of being treated like a point, these quantum could be "stretched out" and represented as "strings" then this eliminates the problem of infinite gravity in quantum physics.

The HBC may give insight into this phenomenon. That is, imagine an electron as being similar to an HBC, undetectable, with zero mass, until it reacts with an HBC. Fortunately, like everything else, electrons "live" in an ocean of HBCs.

Assume then that as an electron approaches an HBC, the interaction of the two particles begins, continues as the electron passes the HBC, and ends some time after the electron passes. If this interaction causes mass - it would take the form of a line beginning when the two particles get close and ending when they travel apart.

The mass would literally look like a string as required by string theory and would solve the issue of quantum gravity, see Fig 1. That is, if an electron's mass is derived by passing by an HBC, then other particle's with a bigger mass might be stuck in a powerful and constant dance with an HBC, others might well be fused to one or more HBCs.

"Mass" then would be a function of how intensely and how long a particle interacted with one or more HBCs. This interaction would coalesce a "string" of mass that connects the center of the HBC and its interacting partner particle. Circular strings may form as a perfectly divided strand or by tracing the orbital centers of two intermingling particles (e.g. Proton and HBC).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

.................ooo|ooo..............ooo|ooo.....

Time ->

. electron in flight, no mass

o electron close to an HBC w/mass

| HBC

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Fig1

2 - Wave - particle duality

String theory postulates a twisted knot of "extra" dimensions at every point in the universe. The "shape" of this knot correlates to the vibration of a string, which correlates with a specific particle. These particles don't just vibrate in our universe, they also vibrate in their associated "knot". Oh, lets call it a Multi-Dimensional Knot (MDK).

It follows then that every HBC has a natural frequency and thus a natural shape for its MDK. By definition, other particles have other frequencies and other MDK sizes and shapes. When other particles interact with an HBC, the result is a disturbance or change in the HBC's frequency and thus its MDK shape. Normally an additional common side effect is what we perceive as matter.

An interesting idea then is that the natural frequency and shape of MDK's would fit together and form a lattice in multidimensional space. This would well explain how space can bend and warp, like a stack of rubber Legos ™. Each HBC would then effectively be a window into this lattice as the string is both inside its MDK and inside our dimension.

If this is the case, it is useful to think of an HBC's natural MDK as a carbon atom. That is, much like carbon, the physical properties might well be dependant upon the particular arrangement of the constituents. If the constituents are arranged uniformly, then carbon is a translucent diamond, if the constituents are irregular, then carbon is an opaque lump of coal or graphite.

As such, when an electron interacts with an HBC under the right conditions, the result is a photon that doesn't just interact with the MDK, it enters the MDK completely. It is as if the photon unties its MDK and forms a wave that is completely unobstructed inside the HBC lattice such that it can propagate freely (like a wave) from one HBC MDK to another - like light passing through a crystal.

As a photonic wave propagates through this lattice, it may bump into an HBC whose MDK is shaped differently as a side effect of a current interaction with another particle. From the photons point of view (POV), this HBC MDK would "look" like a flaw in a diamond or an opaque lump of coal stuck in the lattice, and the photonic wave would have to propagate around it.

The photonic wave travels without resistance through the lattice until it bumps into an MDK which has a shape that tends to "scoop" the photonic wave out of the lattice and bring it back into our dimension, and in the process, "tying" the wave back into a particle with an MDK and recognized as an electron.

Any particle behaving like a wave is likely traveling through the HBC MDK lattice in this fashion. In essence, the conjecture is that all "particles" are strings expressing mass in our dimension with an associated MDK. When the string encounters an HBC MDK with the appropriate shape, under the right conditions, the particles MDK unravels, it enters the HBC MDK lattice as a wave, and propagates in a fashion consistent with the MDK's it encounters that it will perceive as translucent, opaque, or as a "scoop".

Passing through "scoops" of different shapes would tie the wave into different MDK's, with different side effects, and thus, expressed as different particles in our dimension.

3 - Particle Probability Distributions

Waves are likely to be mildly chaotic as they propagate through the MDK lattice. That is, the wave should have a crest or absolute point of highest energy that can travel freely along the wave. Then, when the wave encounters an array of MDK's, each with a tendency to "scoop" the wave up, the wave should prefer the single individual "scoop" that is closest to the waves highest energy or the first scoop the high energy point encounters in its direct line of travel. The scoop will suck the wave up like a pool of liquid and fold it into an MDK. The resulting particle will then coalesce in our dimension following the probability function that describes the wave as it had traveled through the lattice.

Importantly, different particles traveling through this MDK lattice in the form of a wave will behave differently as they encounter differently shaped MDKs. MDK shapes that are transparent to photonic waves may be opaque to radio waves and vice versa. MDK shapes that "scoop" photonic waves might not "scoop" gamma rays, etc.

4 - Electron shells

The preceding concepts have application to describe electron shells as well. Why do electrons tend to coalesce in funny shaped shells around a nucleus? If Protons and Neutrons have fused to HBCs or if they are interacting with HBCs strongly enough to cause mass, then they have certainly disrupted the underlying MDK lattice.

The effect might be strong enough to disrupt, bend, or twist the MDKs of nearby HBCs. It might force them into a regular pattern like a "sub lattice" randomly apart from the primary HBC MDK lattice. That is, in this model, electron shells are a multidimensional analog to electromagnetic lines of force.

The effect is to warp or arrange HBC MDK's into chaotic forms that interact with electrons without giving them an easy escape route into the MDK lattice of "open space". From the electron POV, it is randomly united, propagated through a randomly coherent translucent path, "scooped" up by random HBC's and coalesced (tied) back into an electron. From the observational POV, the electron will pop in and out of existence according to the currently accepted Particle Probability Distribution for an electron in an electron shell.

5 - Heisenberg uncertainty principle

In this model, the probability wave of an electron, for example, exactly duplicates its wave form it had while a passing through the chaotic HBC shell "sub lattice". Areas that have a higher probability for it to "pop into existence" merely represent facets of the shell/lattice as a side effect of the nucleus on the primary HBC MDK lattice. That is, HBC's with different shapes are collecting and defining the electron shell "sub lattice".

While the electron is in its wave state, it simply does not exist in our dimension. As a wave, it can touch many HBC's at the same time any one of which may have the "scoop" that ties it back up into an electron. The result is, the wave can never be directly, measured its behavior is simply inferred. For example, the size and energy of the wave can be inferred in a way that is not expressed when it is tied up into an MDK.

Once the electron has coalesced, in our dimension, its location can be directly measured, but most of it is energy is locked away in its MDK. Thus, if it is moving as a wave its MDK is "untied" and you can infer its energy, but if it has coalesced into a particle, you can only know its location (its MDK, with most of its energy is not detectible).

Another aspect of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle is the opposite case. If you know the time a radioactive body will decay, you don't know which atom in the body will emit a particle. All the atoms in the entire body have to "agree" which atom will emit a particle and only one particle should come from the entire body. Additionally, if you divide the body down to a single particle, you won't know the time it will emit.

The proposed model gives good insight into how this could happen. In this case, the unstable shape of the atoms nucleus might be enough to twist all the HBC's associated with the entire body slightly out of alignment from the primary HBC MDK lattice and isolate the body as a moderately closed system in an intermediary-lattice.

That is - radioactive body's could create a lattice that engulfs the entire body, including the sub-lattices that form the electron shells within the atoms of the body, but is not fully connected with the primary lattice of "open space".

If we then assume that a slight charge could "leak" into or build up on the intermediary-lattice, the resulting build-up could form a local wave that is finally "scooped" into a properly warped MDK, where its charge would interact with a candidate particle in our dimension and cause an emission. The charge might come from the very twist in the intermediary-lattice itself.

6 -Quantum entanglement

In this model, an electron shell is basically an isolated HBC sub-lattice that might well have chaotic aspects. However chaotic the MDK's shape or size might be, it should be stable enough to always correctly untie electrons into waves and tie them back into particles.

To correctly manage the spins of electrons in a shell, the HBC sub-lattice must a have feedback that represents the current state of the shells electron population. "Entanglement" is simply a perceived consequence of that type of mechanism. This might take the form of a simple ratchet like feature of an MDK shape.

The essence here is that MDK shape can be compared to molecule shapes in biological systems. If the shapes changes slightly, the function in and interaction with the environment will change. "MDK shapes" might well be an analog of proteins, but for physics.

7 - Dark Energy

A side effect of MDK's is that they should "hide" from us a lot of the energy that makes up the universe. Fortunately for this model, this type of phenomenon has been observed in the accelerating expansion of the universe. There is not enough measured energy in the universe to account for its continued acceleration.

The primary postulate in this model is that MDK's are knots of alternate dimensions that can be untied and may even "want" to untie. As they try to relax their shape, they expand. Essentially, these knots could be storing potential kinetic energy in 9 dimensions that we can not directly measure. MDK "size" or tension would be a new token to trade for energy or mass.

8 - Dark Matter

The outside edges of observed galaxies are moving very fast. So fast that it is estimated that they should fling themselves apart. That is, as galaxies spin, their centrifugal force should overcome the estimated gravity for the galaxy. The mystery then is why can't we see the extra mass that must exists in all galaxies for them to be rotating so fast without overcoming their own gravity.

This phenomenon may be based on the assumption that the Higgs Field is uniform through the universe. The implication of a uniform Higgs Field is a uniform distribution of HBCs. However, if MDK size or tension can be exchanged for mass and energy, then HBC's interacting with particles and waves may have less energy in their MDK which could result in HBC's collecting and increasing in density in areas of the universe where there is mass.

Assume for a moment that a proton "string" gets its physical properties from its MDK / frequency and thus a particular type of interaction with HBC's. If it interacts with more HBC's, it could retain all of its physical properties regardless the number of HBC's it is interacting with. In the deepest void of space, because of HBC density, it may only be able to interact with a single HBC at a time.

In a galaxy or galaxy cluster, it might always be interacting with two HBC's and have twice the mass with all the same relative properties. Near a supermassive black hole (apparently common in the center of galaxies), a single proton might interact with 4 HBC's simultaneously. A halo of Dark Matter around a galaxy might likely be a currently unknown side effect of a supermassive black hole.

To clarify, this model supposes that all physical properties, nucleus stability, for example, is a function of particle MDK shape and relative HBC density and not an absolute gravity from an absolute constant for mass.

The mass of an electron, for example could be considered an average that depends on the number of HBC's it traverses in a fixed period of time. If the HBC density increases, it might not have any more mass at any given time, but it will have mass more often.

9 - Vacuum Catastrophe

"The worst theoretical prediction in the history of physics!", may simply arise as a consequence of assuming the HBC's MDK lattice is uniform through the universe.

That is to say, if MDK "size" or tension can be traded for energy or mass, then the vacuum energy density as measured in our local area (this galaxy or even this cluster), where HBC's are expressing significant mass, should be lower, and may be significantly lower, than the average as calculated by assuming a uniform vacuum energy density for the entire universe.

10 - The Casimir Effect

Conservation of MDK "size" or tension could explain the Casimir Effect. That is, as stress propagates through the HBC MDK lattice, it could cause HBC's to "spontaneously" generate strings in our dimension, to relieve the pressure on it's MDK.

Of course, it could all be some serious BS.

Edited August 31, 2012 by RR Edwards

[MigL]

Your last point is right !

 

Actually the one I like is the account for dark energy. The Higgs mechanism consists of a scalar Higgs field interacting with massless particles to give them mass, the field excitations are manifested as the Higgs bosons. Now a scalar field ( directionless ) which pervades all space is otherwise known as vacuum energy and can be shown to lead to a 'cosmological constant' as in Einstein's original version of GR. This cosmological constant then acts to accelerate expansion just as dark energy does.

[imatfaal]

!

Moderator Note

Moved to speculations. Please take a moment to read the specific rules for this forum.

[RR Edwards]

Your last point is right !

 

Actually the one I like is the account for dark energy. The Higgs mechanism consists of a scalar Higgs field interacting with massless particles to give them mass, the field excitations are manifested as the Higgs bosons. Now a scalar field ( directionless ) which pervades all space is otherwise known as vacuum energy and can be shown to lead to a 'cosmological constant' as in Einstein's original version of GR. This cosmological constant then acts to accelerate expansion just as dark energy does.

 

Agreed except for 2 things:

 

1- The Vacuum Catastrophe specifically says that the cosmological constant estimation required to explain dark energy when aligned with observable vacuum energy is "The worst theoretical prediction in the history of physics" and thus hardly "settled". I have presented a mechanism that could both settle that account AND explain why the observation is so far off.

2- I have heard the term "Higgs-Boson" used to describe both the parent particle and the daughter particle (you are using it to describe the daughter particle). At first this unsettled me because we should be more precise which is why we have terms like parent and daughter in the first place. However, it could be that the parent and daughter particles are in fact the same particle, simply expressing differently in different environments. The parent might not "decay" as currently conceived, rather it may simply twist itself into a multidimensional knot and thus become undetectable in our dimension. That is its natural state in a high energy environment might be the Higgs-Boson parent, as expected in the big bang and posited in the LHC and its natural state in a low energy environment might be the Higgs-Boson child (what I have called the HBC).

If this is accurate, the interesting thing to to know is if the HBC forms naturally from the environment transition or does the Higgs-Boson parent absorb energy from the environment to form the HBC?

Also thank you for the help finding the right home for this thread.

[MigL]

Well by all means, show us how your mathematical 'mechanism' restricts the vacuum energy estimate to reasonable values and not the current predictions that are up 120 orders of magnitude too high.

 

I don't know what you mean by parent or daughter Higgs boson. The Higgs particle is an excitation of a quantum field, the higgs field, just like the photon is an excitation of the QED field and the gluon is an excitation of the QCD field.