The Higgs Boson (also known as the "God particle) is one of the major missing links in modern particle physics. It is a hypothetical particle predicted by the Standard Model. Physicists at research facilities such as CERN have dedicated vast amounts of resources to determining whether the boson truly exists. The goal in finding it is to answer the question of why elementary particles such as quarks and electrons have mass, as well as to gain a better understanding of electroweak forces.

All discovered forces are derived from four fundamental forces: Strong and weak nuclear forces, electromagnetism, and gravity. However, physicists are looking for a way to unify these forces to work together as one. The discovery of the W and Z bosons was one landmark in achieving this goal. This helped with the unification of weak nuclear forces and electromagnetism to create electroweak forces. One problem remained, however. If the weak and electromagnetic forces were part of the same electroweak force, it would make no sense that the exchange particle for the electromagnetic interaction, the photon, is massless while the W and Z have masses more than 80 times that of a proton. This shows that spontaneous breaking of electroweak forces must occur in nature. To explain this, physicists have theorized a field called the Higgs field, which the Higgs boson would mediate.

According to the theory, particles would interact with the Higgs field, resulting in their having mass.

Sites used:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/forces/higgs.html

http://press.web.cern.ch/press/background/B01-Higgs_en.html