The Discovery of the Higgs Boson

The discovery of a new fundamental particle at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), CERN is the latest step in a long quest seeking to answer one of physics’ most enduring questions: why do particles have mass? The experiment’s much-anticipated success confirms predictions made decades earlier by Peter Higgs and others; offering a glimpse into a universe of physics beyond the Standard Model.

This free online course introduces the theoretical tools needed to appreciate the discovery and presents the elementary particles that have been discovered at the tiniest scales ever explored. Beginning with basic concepts in classical mechanics, the story unfolds through relativity and quantum mechanics, describing forces, matter and the unification of theories with an understanding driven by the tools of mathematics.

Narrating the journey through experimental results which led to the discovery in 2012, the course invites you to learn from a team of world-class physicists at Edinburgh University.

In this course, you’ll learn about:

• Theoretical physical phenomena
• Theories on matter and light
• Quantum electrodynamics and Quantum chromodynamics
• The Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism and the Standard Model
• Experimental evidence for the Standard Model and going beyond it 

This course is for anyone with an interest in physics and astronomy – especially those keen to learn more about particle physics. 

The course requires a basic level of mathematical skills, to the level of a final-year school pupil or equivalent.