When we hear such a fancy name we start to question what it actually means. Well worry not! I will help explain and understand what the Higgs Boson is.
Higgs Boson, also called the Higgs particle, is an elemantary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the quantum excitation of the Higgs field.
Sounds geeky right?
In order to simplify let's start with the Standard Model,
The Standard Model of Particle Physics is a theory that encapsulates thousands of physicists discoveries since the 1930s, figurization of fundamental structure of matter, everything in the universe is found to be constructed from few basic building blocks called fundamental particles , directed by four fundamental forces - namely, the strong force, the weak force, the electromagnetic force, and the gravitational force. The road to understanding the relation between three of the forces and the particles to each other is in it. It has succeded to explain almost all experimental results and precisely predicted a wide variety of phenomena. Over time it has become a well tested physics theory.
Let's continue with the quantum excitation
In quantum mechanics, an excited state of a system (atom, molecule, nucleus) is any quantum state of the system that has a higher energy than the ground state(more energy than the absolute minimum). Excitation increases the energy level above a chosen starting point. By the excitation of the Higgs field, Higgs boson is produced .
What is the Higgs Field?
The Higgs Field was thought to give mass to fundamental subatomic particles like the quarks (the building blocks of protons and neutrons) and leptons that make up ordinary matter. The Higgs bosons are like tiny wiggles in the field like the kind of bumps you see when you twitch a rope.
But how does this field gives mass to particles?
In 1993, The British Science Minister challenged physicists to come up with an explanation in a simple way. The prize was nothing but a fancy champagne.
Let's turn back to our question. One of them simplified it by supposing there was a large cocktail party at the CERN laboratary filled with researchers. This crowd represented the Higgs Field. If a tax collector entered the party, there wouldn't be anyone who would want to talk to him and he could easily cross the room and reach the bar without any stops. He wouldn't interact with the crowd in much the same way that some particles don't interact with the Higgs Field. The particles that don't interact are called massles. Now let's asume that Peter Higgs entered the same room. There would be a crowd gathering around him. Because of the interaction Higgs will more slowly cross the room . So now Higgs has become a massive particle through his interactions with the field. If that's the Higgs Field how does the boson's going to fit into all of this?
While the part goes on let's now assume that somebody popped out their head in the door to spread a rumor. People near the door will hear the rumor and surround that somebody but the people far away won't. This will create a clump. When people hear it they will turn back to their old place and talk about it there. But people who were further away will ask which will also create a clump. This clump is called the Higgs boson. People that arrived to the room was equal in the start, both having zero mass. So it's the interaction with the crowd that causes them to gain mass. This boson was predicted by the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism.
Lastly why do we need them?
Because without the Higgs field, quarks would have no mass and the proton would be heavier than the neutron. If we turn to mass, without it's presence there wouldn't be a universe with galaxies, planets and life wouldn't even exist. That's exactly why we need it.