Newswise — Washington, D.C. (Oct. 8, 2013) -- The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to François Englert of the Université Libre de Bruxelles and Peter Higgs of the University of Edinburgh "for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider." To help journalists and the public understand the context of this remarkable theory, the American Institute of Physics (AIP) has compiled a Physics Nobel Prize Resources page featuring relevant scientific papers and articles, quotes from experts, multimedia, and other resources. The page can be accessed at http://www.aip.org/nobel/physics2013.html and will be updated throughout the day. Highlights are included below:

Overview In 1964, two young scientists known as Peter Higgs and Francois Englert (and a third, the now deceased Robert Brout, who was collaborating with Englert at the time) independently proposed a theory of how subatomic particles acquire mass. It would take nearly half a century, thousands of scientists and technicians and billions of dollars to find the capstone experimental proof, but when two gigantic experimental collaborations at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland announced the discovery of the Higgs boson to the world on July 4, 2012, the theory was just about confirmed. Of all the fundamental particles, the Higgs boson stands out as being fundamentally different from all the rest. The most complete explanation thus far in modern physics of how the universe works, the framework known as the Standard Model, holds that fields and their particle manifestations are the essential building blocks of the universe. This standard model rests upon the existence of the Higgs boson, which is connected to a field that fills up all of space and gives subatomic particles, such as electrons and quarks, their mass.

Statement from AIP Executive Director and CEO "The question of how particles acquire mass has been one of the fundamental puzzles in particle physics and was the last piece of the standard model to fall into place," said H. Frederick Dylla, the executive director and CEO of the American Institute of Physics (AIP). "This is one of the great achievements in the history of physics, and the awarding of the prize could not be more timely, since the Higgs boson was finally observed on July 4 last year at CERN in Switzerland." -- H. Frederick Dylla, executive director and CEO, American Institute of Physics

Seminal Papers, Courtesy of the American Physical Society Broken Symmetry and the Mass of Gauge Vector MesonsF. Englert and R. BroutPhys. Rev. Lett. 13, 321 (1964)http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.13.321 Broken Symmetries and the Masses of Gauge BosonsPeter W. HiggsPhys. Rev. Lett. 13, 508 (1964)http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.13.508 Additional seminal workGlobal Conservation Laws and Massless ParticlesG.S. Guralnik, C.R. Hagen, and T.W.B. KibblePhys. Rev. Lett. 13, 585 (1964)http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.13.585

“Search and Discovery” Physics Today Stories “The Higgs particle, or something much like it, has been spotted,” Johanna L. MillerPhys. Today, Sept. 2012http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.1699

“Gauge symmetry saved, mass endowed,”Steven K. Blau Phys. Today, Sept. 2012http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.1700

Multimedia Picture of EnglertEnglert Francois A1 - http://photos.aip.org/veritySearch2.jsp?item_id=Englert%20Francois%20A1&fname=englert_francois_a1.jpg&title=null&storePublished=Y&color=N&contactID=null&format=null&location=null&collections=null&photo_des=Portrait%20of%20Francois%20Englert,%20Wolf%20Foundation%20Prize%20in%20Physics%202004This image was donated to AIP by Englert in July 2004. Photo is from 1998.Credit line: “Francois Englert, courtesy AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives”

Other Relevant Papers Published by AIP “The topology of the electroweak interaction”Jürgen TolksdorfJ. Math. Phys. 46, 042304 (2005)http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1883312 “Superconnections and the Higgs field”G. RoepstorffJ. Math. Phys. 40, 2698 (1999)http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.532724 "Deriving the standard model from the simplest two-point K cycle"R. WulkenhaarJ. Math. Phys. 37, 3797 (1996)http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.531602 “Particle states and scattering theory in abelian gauge model with spontaneously broken symmetry”Garner Bishop and Kurt HallerJ. Math. Phys. 24, 932 (1983)http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.525783

Other Relevant Papers Published by AIP Member Societies “Spontaneous Symmetry Breakdown without Massless Bosons”Peter W. HiggsPhys. Rev. 145, 1156 (1966)http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.145.1156

“Physics story of the year 2012; Higgs boson mass sorted by CERN”Dan MacIsaacPhys. Teach. 50, 381 (2012)http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.4745703 “The Higgs Boson: Is the End in Sight?”Don LincolnPhys. Teach. 50, 332 (2012)http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.4745683 “A question of mass”Jeremy BernsteinAm. J. Phys. 79, 25 (2011)http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.3487939

“Resource Letter: SM-1: The standard model and beyond”Jonathan L. RosnerAm. J. Phys. 71, 302 (2003)http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.1539087

Related Physics Today Articles “The Particle at the End of the Universe: How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of a New World; Higgs: The Invention and Discovery of the `God Particle'”Don LincolnPhys. Today 66, July, 50 (2013)http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.2048

“The Large Hadron Collider yields tantalizing hints of the Higgs boson”Bertram M. SchwarzschildPhys. Today 65, February, 16 (2012)http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.1425 “Reevaluation of Top Quark Data Raises Estimate of Higgs Boson's Mass”Bertram SchwarzschildPhys. Today 57, August, 26 (2004)http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1801858 “Slowly but Steadily, Fermilab Pushes the Upgraded Tevatron toward Its Design Goals”Barbara Goss LeviPhys. Today 55, June, 16 (2002)http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1496363 “Lights out at LEP”Bertram SchwarzschildPhys. Today 53, December, 18 (2000)http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.2405520 “LHC May Be on Collision Course with Higgs Boson”Gianluigi Fogli and Eligio LisiPhys. Today 49, March, 129 (1996)http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.2807567 “The Concept of Mass”Lev B. OkunPhys. Today 42, June, 31 (1989)http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.881171 “Identifying the Higgs Boson”John P. RutherfoordPhys. Today 38, February, 104 (1985)http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.2814476

“Has the Higgs boson been seen in the Crystal Ball?”Bertram M. SchwarzschildPhys. Today 37, October, 18 (1984)http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.2915909

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