‘Not sure if it's God particle, but Higgs Boson can help solve mysteries’

The discovery of a new sub-atomic particle on Wednesday that is crucial to understanding how the universe is built has an intrinsic Indian connection. Or to be more precise, has a Pune connection.

He is Ashutosh Kotwal, the US-based particle physicist and professor at Duke University in North Carolina, US. Kotwal, whose parents live in Pune, has also played a key role in installing the critical particle detectors in the large hadron collider (LHC) in the past three years.

But as scientists at the CERN claimed that they have spotted a sub-atomic particle “consistent” with the Higgs Boson or ‘God particle’, Kotwal has tried

to explain the discovery from his perspective.

“I don’t think it is ‘God particle’. But yes, Higgs Boson holds the key to unravel many fundamental mysteries of nature,” Kotwal told DNA from Melbourne, Australia.

Earlier, it was predicted that the accurate measurement of mass was between 90 and 145 billion (giga). Now, the CERN has found out that the actual figure is close to 123 giga, thanks to Kotwal. “For decades, scientists were trying to understand the whole idea of ‘God particle’. Also, for the last 50 years, physicists have been taking efforts to solve the mystery of fundamental particles,” Kotwal said.

“The mathematical framework called the standard model of particle physics, which is based on quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of relativity, predicts that all fundamental particles must be massless. That is why the Higgs hypothesis is so important as it can solve one of the biggest mysteries in physics i.e., how fundamental particles acquire mass,” he added.

Talking about his future plans, Kotwal said, “My future line of research would include questioning the basic nature and origin of Higgs Boson. I’ll be working on establishing all its signs and expected behaviour. So far, we only have strong evidence that the ‘God particle’ exists. But we want to be absolutely sure.”

Giving credit to his parents, wife Ashwini and son Gautam, he said that instead of harping on his success, he is trying to figure out a new set of experiments to answer more crucial questions about the particle.

But during 25 years of painstaking efforts, were there moments of frustration? Kotwal humbly said, “We were working to solve some of the greatest mysteries of nature. If anything, there were great moments of joy, not frustration."