The Higgs Boson

from Google AI:

When a Higgs boson decays, its energy is transferred into the quantum fields of the Standard Model particles it couples with.

Because the Higgs boson interacts with almost all particles that possess mass, it has multiple decay pathways (called branching ratios). When it collapses, its energy creates ripples in several specific fields:

1. The Quark Fields (Matter)

Roughly 65% to 70% of all Higgs bosons transfer their energy directly into quark fields. Because the Higgs boson couples most strongly to heavier particles, it prefers the heaviest quarks it can kinematically produce:

• The Bottom Quark Field (b): This is the single most common destination. About 58% of the Higgs boson's energy ripples into the bottom-quark field, creating a bottom and anti-bottom quark pair.
• The Charm Quark Field (c): About 3% of its energy enters the charm-quark field. 

• The Strange Quark Field (s): The Higgs boson decays into the strange quark field very rarely. According to the Standard Model of Particle Physics, the inclusive branching ratio for the Higgs boson to decay directly into a strange/anti-strange (s\overline s) quark pair is approximately \(0.021\%\). [1] This fraction represents just a tiny fraction of the total energy, well below the per-mille level. Because the Higgs boson's decay rate into quarks is roughly proportional to the square of the quark's mass, the heavier bottom (\(b\)) and charm (\(c\)) quarks take up the vast majority of quark-field decays: [1, 2, 3, 4].

• Bottom quarks: \(\approx 60\%\)

• Charm quarks: \(\approx 2.5\%\) [1] 

Due to the extremely low branching fraction, finding direct evidence of the Higgs-to-strange decay remains a massive experimental challenge at facilities like the Large Hadron Collider. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

 

2. The Weak Force Fields (Force Carriers)

Around 25% of the time, the Higgs boson transfers its energy back into the fields responsible for the weak nuclear force—the force behind radioactive decay.

• The W Boson Field: About 21% of Higgs bosons decay into ripples of the (W^+) and (W^-) fields.
• The Z Boson Field: About 2.6% of its energy enters the neutral (Z) boson field.

3. The Lepton Fields (Matter)

Leptons are light particles like electrons and neutrinos. The Higgs boson preferentially targets the heaviest lepton:

• The Tau Lepton Field (tau): About 6% of the time, the energy creates ripples in the tau field (the electron's much heavier cousin).
• The Muon Field (mu): A tiny fraction (0.02%) enters the muon field.

4. The Photon and Gluon Fields (Massless Forces)

Paradoxically, the Higgs boson can also transfer energy into fields of particles that have zero mass. It cannot do this directly. Instead, it creates a temporary "loop" of heavy virtual particles (like top quarks) that instantly collapse into force fields:

• The Gluon Field: About 8% of the energy shakes the gluon field, which carries the strong nuclear force holding atomic nuclei together.
• The Electromagnetic Field (Photons): About 0.2% of the time, it decays into two pure particles of light, sending ripples through the electromagnetic field.