The key difference between gauge boson and Higgs boson is that gauge bosons have a spin of 1, whereas Higgs bosons have a zero spin.
Gauge bosons and Higgs bosons are bosonic particles we discuss under elementary particles in particle physics.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Gauge Boson
3. What is Higgs Boson
4. Side by Side Comparison – Gauge Boson vs Higgs Boson in Tabular Form
5. Summary
What is Gauge Boson?
Gauge boson is a form of a force carrier that can carry any of the fundamental interactions of nature that are named as forces. It is a type of bosonic particle. Usually, the interactions of elementary particles can be described by a gauge theory as they tend to interact with each other through the exchange of gauge bosons. These particles act as virtual particles.
Figure 01: Different Elementary Particles
Generally, the gauge bosons we know have a spin of 1. Therefore, we can say that all gauge bosons are vector bosons. Further, these bosonic particles are different from other types of boson particles such as Higgs bosons, mesons, etc.
When considering the standard model of particle physics, we can recognize 4 major types of gauge bosons as photons, W bosons, Z bosons, and gluons. Photons are particles that carry electromagnetic interactions, while W and Z bosons tend to carry weak interactions, and gluons can carry strong interactions. However, we cannot find any isolated gluons because they are subjected to colour confinement (colour charged particles cannot be isolated; thus, we cannot directly observe these particles in normal conditions).
What is Higgs Boson?
The Higgs boson is an elementary particle that is produced through the quantum excitation of the Higgs field. Higgs field is one of the fields in particle physics theory. We can identify a Higgs boson particle as a massive scalar boson having a zero spin and no electric charge. Moreover, it has no colour charge. We can identify this particle as a very unstable boson that can easily decay into other particles immediately. This particle was named after the physicist Peter Higgs for the discovery.
Figure 02: Peter Higgs who invented Higgs Bosons
Considering the production of a Higgs boson particle, we can produce it in a way much similar to the production of other particles in a particle collider. Here, we need to accelerate a large number of particles in order to get extremely high energies and extremely close to the speed of light, which allows them to smash together. Due to the extreme energies of these collisions, we can occasionally get desired esoteric particles.
What is the Difference Between Gauge Boson and Higgs Boson?
Gauge bosons and Higgs bosons are two different types of bosonic particles which comes under elementary particles of matter. Gauge boson is a form of a force carrier that can carry any of the fundamental interactions of nature that are named as forces, while Higgs boson is an elementary particle that is produced through the quantum excitation of the Higgs field. Moreover, the key difference between gauge boson and Higgs boson is that gauge bosons have a spin of 1, whereas the spin of Higgs bosons is zero.
The below infographic lists the differences between gauge boson and Higgs boson in tabular form.
Summary – Gauge Boson vs Higgs Boson
Gauge bosons and Higgs bosons are elementary particles. The gauge bosons were named after the scientist Paul Dirac while the Higgs bosons were named after the physicist Peter Higgs who discovered them. The key difference between gauge boson and Higgs boson is that gauge bosons have a spin of 1, whereas the spin of Higgs bosons is zero.
Reference:
1. “Higgs Boson.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Apr. 2021, Available here.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Standard Model of Elementary Particles” By MissMJ, Cush – Own work by uploader, PBS NOVA [1], Fermilab, Office of Science, United States Department of Energy, Particle Data Group (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Nobel Prize 24 2013” By Bengt Nyman – Flickr: IMG_7469 (CC BY 2.0) via Commons Wikimedia
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