Ok lets see how I go putting this into simple English and here we have to go from the simplification of higgs particles dragging on matter to a proper higgs field be warned.
In the standard model, spacetime points are allowed to move between planck time ticks. From one time tick to the next, the average position of a point (neglecting random quantum fluctuations) can either remain stationary (velocity = 0) or move one space increment (velocity = c, speed of light).
The Higgs field is the velocity field of this movement. It has a value equal to the Planck energy for a stationary point and a value of zero for a moving point. The vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field, 246 GeV, is a measure of the average ratio of moving points to stationary points, which is about 10E17.
If all points were stationary the electron would have the Planck mass, and nothing could move. If all points moved at the velocity of light, the only possible particles would be massless neutrinos and nothing could stand still.
So in other words the Higgs field is a name we give to the field caused by the expansion or movement of spacetime itself and within spacetime. Since you are in spacetime you can't be moving relative to it.
Again it's one of those case that if you accept they have found a Higgs boson you must also accept that spacetime is expanding.
Last edited by Orac; 12/22/12 02:30 AM.
