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James.Bottomley@steeleye.com wrote: |
| The standard model generates mass by nothing more elaborate than the screening effect of a pervasive Higgs condensate to which all particles have a coupling. The individual particle mass is actually proportional to the vaccum expectation value of the higgs field, which is roughly the number density of that condensate. |
| Density perturbations (with correlation lengths much greater that the particle wavelength) in the Higgs condensate lead directly to particle mass fluctuations. There is an intriguing implication here: If mass is generated by the Higgs-Kibble mechanism and Inertial and Gravitaional masses are equivalent, should not General Relativity already be incorporated into an extended Standard Model via a correct formulation of this mechanism? |
| In some theories, the Higgs coupling to the vaccum is an electromagnetic attraction to virtual spacetime particles. This creates the inertial mass. At this very short distance (ie high energy) gravity is supposedly greatly coupled to electromagnetism thus making inertial and gravitational masses equivalent. |
| A Higgs dimension sets the Higgs VEV which I guess sets the density of virtual spacetime in some sense. Some Higgs dimensions/mechanism must also be coupling gravity to electromagnetism at high energies (small distances). |