The efforts to detect the existence of Higgs boson particle have become frequent news in the recent past. What is/are the importance/importance’s of discovering this particle? 1. It will enable us to understand as to why elementary particles have mass. 2. It will enable us in the near future to develop the technology of transferring matter from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. 3. It will enable us to create better fuels for nuclear fission. Select the correct answer using the codes given below.

The correct answer is A, that is, statement 1 only.

The Higgs field gives mass to elementary particles through the Higgs mechanism. W and Z bosons, quarks and leptons acquire mass by interacting with this field, and the Higgs boson is the excitation of that field. Its confirmation at CERN's LHC in 2012 completed the Standard Model and answered why these particles have mass. This belongs to the Science and Technology section, and the Mains angle is how basic science gets funded and how India takes part in global big-science projects. India became an Associate Member of CERN in 2017.

• Statement 2 is wrong. Higgs research has nothing to do with transferring matter. Quantum teleportation transfers quantum information, not matter, and still needs a classical channel, so it does not bypass physical space.
• Statement 3 is wrong. Better nuclear fission fuels come from nuclear engineering and reactor design, involving uranium, plutonium or thorium, not from the Higgs boson.

Trap: Candidates see 'frontier physics' and accept every statement as a benefit of the discovery. Only the statement about mass follows directly from the Higgs mechanism.