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UNDER THE MICROSCOPE:MATTER IS MADE of fundamental building block particles and the theoretical framework describing their interactions with three of the four fundamental forces is called the Standard Model. The model is a well-tested theory, but one essential ingredient still eludes experimental verification – the Higgs field and its associated force carrier the Higgs boson particle.

 It is proposed that the Higgs field interacts with the fundamental particles, thereby giving them mass. Because of the great fundamental importance of the Higgs boson it has been nicknamed the God Particle. The Higgs boson may soon be detected experimentally in the giant particle accelerator at Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research.