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Meaning of Higgs mechanism in English:

Higgs mechanism

noun

Physics

  • The spontaneous symmetry breaking of the electromagnetic and weak interactions by the agency of a Higgs field.

    The mechanism is invoked to account for the fact that the W and Z particles (mediators of the weak force) have mass but the photon (mediator of the electromagnetic force) does not. An implication of the mechanism is the existence of a Higgs particle.

Origin

1970s.