Brian and the Higgs' Field

(Note: This article is pseudo-science. It represents my best understanding of the material based on my research and my information from knowledgable people, but I am myself not a physicist and have, at best, an incomplete understanding of the existing science. There are doubtless, in other words, things written here that are innaccurate depictions, even for the already pseduo-science world in which a person can have superpowers.)

The Higgs' Field Explained

Although scientists can accurately describe the effects of gravity, they are not yet fully sure what causes the phenomenon of gravity to occur or how it works. It seems that objects are attracted to each other by virtue of their mass, but no full explanation has been found for why this is true. One popular theory posits the existence of the Higgs Field, a field of particles that stretches invisibly across the entire universe. The Higgs field as a whole should be indistinguishable from the rest of the universe, but it should be composed of countless quantum particles called Higgs bosons. Bosons are "elementary particles which act as the carriers of the fundamental forces." For example, the photon is the boson that carries the electromagnetic force, such as light. If this theory holds true, the Higgs boson, which seems to be another name for the graviton, is the boson that carries the information that manifests as the phenomenon of gravity across the universe.

In other words, as an object moves through the Higgs Field, Higgs bosons will begin to cluster around it, giving it mass. The bosons will transmit this information to their counterparts throughout the field and interacting with other particles, thus causing gravitational attraction between all particles within the Higgs' Field. In this sense, Higgs bosons can be seen to come in two "types;" the first is that which has "bonded" invisibly with another particle to give it mass and the second is the "free" Higgs boson that makes up the larger part of the Higgs Field.

The Higgs Field operates according to the Higgs' Mechanism, which describes moving particles in a scalar field (a field with a specific value associated with each point within it). This was done in a spontaneous symmetry breaking model to explain how the Higgs bosons interact with other particles. "What this means... is that the potential energy density (of the Higgs Field) looks like the bottom of a wine bottle: a hump in the middle and a circular valley around it." The potential energy sits at the hump and all of the kinetic energy is at the bottom; a particle moving through the Higgs Field effectively "rolls down the hill." Like a ball at the top of a hill, though, non-interaction with the Higgs' Field is inherently unstable; all particles will eventually expell their excess energy and "roll down the hill." An interesting note is that there's no energy cost to move around the "valley" - all points on it are, energetically speaking, equal.

One of the principles of quantum mechanics, however, and one of the conditions under which gravity must ultimately work, is that quantum particles are seemingly capable of transmitting information faster than the speed of light. For example, quantum particles (including Higgs bosons) can come in pairs. A change in one is matched by an instantaneous change in the other, no matter the distance between them. That said, though, even though the Higgs Field is spread throughout the universe, the Higgs boson would be very weak compared to that of other bosons. A huge concentration of particles (and their attendant Higgs boson-bestowed masses) is necessary to cause gravity to operate. This explains, among other things, why electromagnetic fields can be used to lift objects off of the ground, in defiance of the pull of earth's gravity.

What This Might Mean For Brian

Brian has demonstrated the ability to control and feel elements of gravitic systems. It's possible, then, that Brian has the ability to exercise some control over the Higgs' Field and the Higgs' bosons that compose it. The Higgs boson is, at the moment, theoretical, but it's a strong theory and one which Brian's powers may well be able to prove.

Brian seems, at least in part, to be able to control the transmission of Higgs bosons from one object to another; in the case of the earth and a book he increased the bosonic exchange between the two, making the book appear extremely heavy. This should mimic the effect of that object existing on a planet with a stronger gravitational constant than earth's. People would find it more difficult to walk or lift items, car tires might pop and, at the most extreme, things might get crushed under the weight of gravity's pull.

• At the same time, the opposite should hold true - if Brian decreases the bosonic transfer between the earth and an object it should make the object seem extremely light and easy to lift (or, in the case of a person, capable of jumping great distances, as if on the moon) or float a number of feet off the ground, as does a partially deflated helium balloon.
  • This is one possible explanation for Brian's jumping ability, as well as his ability to slow his own descent.
• At the most extreme, Brian should be able to cut off the bosonic information transfer between an object and the earth altogether. The object should stay in place for a while due to sheer momentum, but as the earth spun away from it the object might float out into space unless there were something else it were still "anchored" to. It's possible that this is how Brian got several rocks to "orbit" him - by subconsciously cutting off their Higgs boson exchange with the earth and strengthening, instead, their bosonic exchange with himself.

When danger threatens, Brian reflexively surrounds himself with a "forcefield" that aggressively repels whatever's set to harm him. Likewise, he's capable of intentionally creating such a field to protect others or to block passage. Since Brian is able to generate these fields even in the vacuum of space it doesn't seem likely that he's using Higgs bosons already associated with particles for his own protection - by, for example, creating a super-massive wall of air around himself - but is rather using the so-called "free" Higgs bosons ("wrapping" himself in the Higgs Field, as it were) and creating a distortion effect that repels danger.

• How Brian manufactures air in space is still an open question.

Brian has demonstrated the ability to travel faster than the speed of light. It's possible that he's doing this by subconsciously pairing the Higgs bosons that give mass to his own body with those at a distant point in space and transmitting the information of his mass to them - in effect instantaneously transporting himself to the new location. However, as mentioned above, Higgs bosons opperate on a small scale as compared to other bosons and Brian could not simply transport himself from earth orbit to translunar orbit. Instead, he would have to make several, possibly several dozen, "jumps" along the way and he would pick up a fraction of a second of visual information with each jump. Brian's brain (and the brains of any observers) would process this information as it was received and, like a person watching a low-frame movie reel, would fill in the gaps with motion. In effect, Brian would seem to be travelling through the intervening space, albeit at a very, very high speed.

• It's also possible that Brian's jumping ability stems, at least in part, from this principle, as well; a person pushing off from the earth with enough force to achieve orbit in earth's gravity would vaporize the ground beneath his two feet, which Brian hasn't done.

We know that Brian now neither needs to eat or sleep. What provides him with his "fuel," then, is an open question. The Higgs Field, however, may provide one possible explanation. As mentioned, there is no potential energy cost to move around the "valley" of the Higgs Field - only to move from the peak to the valley. In other words, it costs energy to begin to interact with the field, but all points on the field are equal. If Brian is interacting with the Field in such a controlled manner and on such a manipulative level, it's possible that he's fueled by particulate interaction with the Field itself - in other words, Brian may be "one" with the Higgs' Field and so long as he moves within it (i.e. moves within the universe) he may be moving around the "valley" and never run out of energy.

Finally, control over the Higgs' Field may account for why Jack sees Brian as being (with one exception) "the most powerful" of the Survivors - it's not that he possesses more raw power than anyone else or the ability to accomplish more so much as his powers may tie in so intimately with one of the fundamental forces of the universe - indeed, a force that's speculated to be the final component of the long-sought-for Unified Field Theory.

Theoretical Applications

If Brian does, in fact, control the Higgs Field and the motions of Higgs bosons, there are any number of untested possible applications. Some follow:

• If Brian can control the transmission of Higgs bosons within a single object (between the atoms in a single concrete block, for example), he should be able to "mentally" crush that object, as each atom it was composed of became attracted to each other to an extreme degree.
  • In opposite fashion, Brian might be able to cause something to explode by forcing its component atoms not to transmit to each other and only to the things nearby. This would be more difficult, however, as there are other forces besides gravity keeping a single object together.
  • Either of these effects could be achieved, however, if Brian's "forcefield" is the result of "wrapping" the Higgs' Field as mentioned earlier - Brian would create a "forcefield" either around or in the center of the object and cause it to "push" dramatically in or out, respectively.
• By selecting a point in space and causing the local portion of the Higgs' Field to transmit information towards that point, Brian should be able to create an "attraction point" anywhere he likes, causing objects to gather at that point as paperclips to the end of a magnet.
• Brian should, in theory, be able to move objects in any direction other than up and down through one of several methods, including causing it to be attracted to other, nearby particles or by "wrapping" it in a fold in the Higgs' Field and playing it against the mass of the Field itself.
  • Through one of these methods, possibly combined with the "jumping" described above, Brian should be able to effectively fly through the earth's atmosphere.
  • Some of these effects will depend largely on Brian's ability to mitigate the interfering pull of earth's gravity without totally negating that pull.
• If Brian were capable of removing Higgs bosons from an atom, he could cause it to lose mass and either become intangible or disintegrate.
• At the most extreme, Brian could concentrate so many Higgs bosons in one place as to naturally create an object with tremendous mass. For example a sun or even a black hole.

Other Links

Higgs Boson: 5 One-Page Explanations
Experiments in Higgs boson mass
Scientific American: What exactly is the Higgs boson?
Higgs boson explained by Fermilab
CERN Ideas: The Higgs boson

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The AMERICAN GODS