| MadSci Network: Physics |
Dale,
The Higgs mechanism, as part of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, provides some particles with inertial mass. The Higgs has nothing to do with gravitation which is described by the general theory of relativity. No one has yet united those two theories or knows if it can even be done.
As to the simplicity of the theory, let me quote Roger Sessions paraphrasing Einstein, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." The Higgs mechanism already is the simplest explanation for particle masses that is not ruled out by prior knowledge; that is, it obeys the principle of parsimony also known as Occam's razor. There are more complicated theories waiting in the wings if the SM Higgs is ever shown to be incorrect.
A theory of science also must, by philosopher of science Karl Popper's definition, be falsifiable. In other words, it must be possible to use the theory to make predictions about experiments so that when the experiments are performed, the results could in principle provide a counterexample which would disprove the theory. The SM Higgs mechanism makes predictions about the number and kinds or particles into which it can decay and these were spectacularly supported on 4 July 2012 when two experiments at the Large Hadron Collider announced that they had seen a particle fitting some of the predicted properties of the Higgs. Other properties, like the spin (intrinsic angular momentum) of the Higgs, await future data analysis.
Any competing theories must not conflict with everything that we already know about the Universe and they must make predictions that can be tested.
The Higgs interactions look complicated, but they are the simplest way to provide inertial masses for particles while maintaining the gauge invariance of the SM Lagrangian. (The Lagrangian is the mathematical combination of fields and interactions to which physicists refer when they say, "the theory". Gauge invariance is a symmetry which limits the interactions of the theory and which has been verified countless times and never violated.)
--Dr. Randall J. Scalise
http://www.physics.smu.edu/scalise
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