"God particle" redirects here.

For the book, see The God Particle: If the Univer se Is the Answer, What Is the Question?. Higgs boson One possible signature of a Higgs boson from a simulated protonproton collision. It decays almost immediately into two jets of hadrons and two electrons, visible as lines.[Note 1] Composition Elementary particle Statistics Bosonic Status Tentatively observed a boson "consistent with" the Higgs boson has been observed, but as of July 2012, scientists have not conclusively identified it as the Higgs boson.[1] Symbol H0 Theorised R. Brout, F. Englert, P. Higgs, G. S. Guralnik, C. R. Hagen, and T. W. B. Kibble (1964) Discovered a compatible particle has been observed by ATLAS and CMS (2012) Types 1 in the Standard Model; 5 or more in supersymmetric models Mass 125.3 0.6 GeV/c2,[2] 126 GeV/c2[3] Electric charge 0 Spin 0 The Higgs boson or Higgs particle is a proposed elementary particle in the Stand ard Model of particle physics. The Higgs boson is named after Peter Higgs who, a long with others, proposed the mechanism that predicted such a particle in 1964. [4][5][6] The existence of the Higgs boson and the associated Higgs field explai n why the other massive elementary particles in the standard model have their ma ss. In this theory, the Higgs field has a non-zero field everywhere, even in its lowest energy state. Other massive elementary particles obtain mass through the continuous interaction with this field (however, not all elementary particles h ave mass). The Higgs field interaction is the simplest mechanism which explains why some elementary particles have mass. The Higgs bosonthe smallest possible exc itation of the Higgs fieldhas been the target of a long search in particle physic s. One of the primary design goals of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Genev a, Switzerlandone of the most complicated scientific instruments ever built was to test the existence of the Higgs boson and measure its properties. Because of its role in a fundamental property of elementary particles, the Higgs boson has been referred to as the "God particle" in popular culture, although v irtually all scientists regard this as a hyperbole. According to the Standard Mo del, the Higgs particle is a boson, a type of particle that allows multiple iden tical particles to exist in the same place in the same quantum state. Furthermor e, the model posits that the particle has no intrinsic spin, no electric charge, and no colour charge. It is also very unstable, decaying almost immediately aft er its creation. On 4 July 2012, the CMS and the ATLAS experimental collaborations at the Large H adron Collider announced that they observed a new boson that is consistent with the Higgs boson, noting that further data and analysis were needed before the pa rticle could be positively identified.