Higgs mechanism

Summary

The Higgs mechanism is the way gauge fields acquire mass when a gauge symmetry is spontaneously broken by a scalar field. The would-be massless Goldstone bosons disappear: they can be removed by a gauge transformation. They become the extra polarization of the now massive gauge fields. In the Standard Model it gives mass to the $W$ and $Z$ bosons, while the photon stays massless. It was found in 1964 by several groups, including Englert and Brout, Higgs, and Guralnik, Hagen and Kibble.