As the Higgs field (through the Higgs boson) is responsible for giving particles mass, it’s not hard to imagine the chaos that would ensue if part of the Higgs field were to decay and cause a ...

But the Higgs field isn't likely to be in the lowest possible energy state it could be in. That means it could theoretically change its state, dropping to a lower energy state in a certain location.

Called the Higgs field, it controls the mass of many fundamental particles, like electrons and quarks. Unlike every other quantum field physicists have discovered, the Higgs field has a default value ...

The Higgs field is special because it controls the mass of all other particles. In effect, it serves as a kind of master switch, determining how sticky all the other switches’ defaults are.

Because the Higgs boson exists, we know that the field exists. You can think of this field as a perfectly still water bath that we soak in. It has identical properties across the entire universe.

“The Higgs field isn’t likely to be in the lowest possible energy state it could be in,” Lucien Heurtier, one of the researchers on the new study, said in an article for The Conversation.

But the Higgs field isn't likely to be in the lowest possible energy state it could be in. That means it could theoretically change its state, dropping to a lower energy state in a certain location.

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine.. Vacuum decay, a process that could end the universe as we know it, may happen 10,000 times sooner than expected. Fortunately, it ...