The Higgs boson is the fundamental particle associated with the Higgs field, a field that gives mass to other fundamental particles such as electrons and quarks. A particle’s mass determines how much it resists changing its speed or position when it encounters a force. Not all fundamental particles have mass. The photon, which is the particle of light and carries the electromagnetic force, has no mass at all.

The Higgs boson was proposed in 1964 by Peter Higgs, François Englert, and four other theorists to explain why certain particles have mass. Scientists confirmed its existence in 2012 through the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Switzerland. This discovery led to the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics being awarded to Higgs and Englert.

Higgs Boson Facts

• The Higgs boson gets its mass just like other particles—from its own interactions with the Higgs field.
• There may be more than one Higgs boson. One theoretical model of new physics predicts five Higgs bosons.
• While the Higgs boson gives mass to the quarks that make up a proton, it is only responsible for giving a proton about 10% of its mass. The other 90% of a proton’s mass comes from the complex interactions of the quarks and the strong nuclear force.
• Since the Higgs boson has the role to generate the mass of other particles and the fact that dark matter can primarily be detected through its mass, the Higgs boson can be a unique portal to finding signs of dark matter. 

DOE Office of Science: Contributions to Higgs Boson Research

The LHC at CERN is the highest-energy particle collider in the world. It is currently the only place scientists can create and study Higgs bosons. The DOE Office of Science (SC) contributed important accelerator magnets to help construct the LHC. DOE also supports many scientists, engineers, and technicians in the LHC program. The LHC hosts four large experimental particle detectors, two of which are partially supported by SC’s Office of High Energy Physics: ATLAS and CMS. U.S. researchers account for approximately 20% and 25% of the ATLAS and CMS collaborations, respectively. They also play leadership roles in many aspects of each experiment. These experiments are making precise measurements of the Higgs boson’s properties to determine if it matches the Standard Model predictions or offers clues to new physics, exploring new particles and their interactions, and identifying the new physics of dark matter.