Why do physicists want to find the Higgs boson?
A. “Finding the Higgs boson” is really code for understanding why fundamental particles have different masses. We have this wonderfully symmetric structure called the standard model — three “generations” of matter, each with a pair of leptons and a pair of quarks, with each generation looking like a carbon copy of the others. The current leading theory which explains all the interactions of these things does such a good job passing many stringent experimental tests that it is referred to as the “Standard Model.” The Standard Model (without the Higgs) requires all these particles to have zero mass, or it fails to be a consistent theory, meaning it will predict outcomes with probability greater than 100 percent at sufficiently high energy — that can’t be right! But, the big problem is all these symmetries are drastically broken by the mass of these particles. In units of electron volts, the lightest ones weigh less than 0.2, the heaviest 170,000,000,000. And in between there is no patter
