The  Simple  Universe

The subatomic particles

The Simple Universe model uses an elementary strand shaped particle to construct the subatomic particles

The neutrino and light particles are constructed as helix shaped particles

And the electron, positron, left-handed 'neutral' particle, right-handed 'neutral' particle, are constructed as torus shaped particles

In the Simple Universe model, the proton is a positron sandwiched between two of the 'neutral' particles

And the neutron is a proton with an electron embedded into the side of the proton

The following animation shows the shapes and structures of the subatomic particles - the  Particles  button steps through the particles

The  Run  button start / stops the animation
(any of the buttons can be used in pause mode)

Movement is built into everything

Movement in the Simple Universe model comes from the head of the elementary strand particle moving at a continuous constant speed in three dimensional space, against the model's static universal reference frame

Momentum

The neutrino and particle of light are helix shaped particles, and the continuous constant speed of the strand particle gives them a persistent forward movement

In the model, the neutrino and light particles have the quality of persistent momentum

Inertia

The particles of matter are torus shaped particles, and their natural state is to be stationary with respect to the model's universal reference frame

With the strand particles moving around a particle of matter at a constant speed, for a particle of matter to move forwards, the particle of matter's perfectly round torus shape has to distort

This gives a greater amount of internal movement on one side or other, and the particle of matter moves forwards

The following animation shows an electron and a proton changing shape when the particles move - the  Move Forwards  button starts the particles moving forwards

The  Run  button start / stops the animation
(any of the buttons can be used in pause mode)

However, because the strand particles stick to each other, the strand particles inside a particle of matter continuously pull a distorted torus back into its perfectly round shape

This gives a particle of matter a continuous resistance to being moved, with respect to the model's universal reference frame

Particles of matter in the model have persistent inertia, they have mass, but they do not have persistent momentum

Giving particles of matter inertia and momentum

For a particle of matter in the model to gain persistent momentum, the particle of matter requires a particle of light, with its persistent momentum, to push the particle of matter along

The following animation shows particles of light in the model attaching themselves to an electron and an electron pair, and pushing the electrons along

The  Run  button start / stops the animation
(any of the buttons can be used in pause mode)

The gain in momentum, and therefore the gain in speed, is related to the size of the particle of light that is pushing the particle of matter along

(With light pushing particles of matter along, this is why particles of matter in the model do not move faster than light)

The persistent speed of a particle of matter is altered when particles of light are added to the attached particle of light that is pushing the particle of matter along, or when particles of light, or parts of a particle of light, are removed from the particle of light that is pushing the particle of matter along

Emission of light

When a particle of light is attached to a particle of matter and pushing the particle of matter along, the particle of light is unable to move forward at its natural forward speed

The forward motion of the particle of light is reduced, but not the speed of the strand particles themselves that are inside the particle of light

When a portion of the attached particle of light is released from a particle of matter, the restriction on the released particle of light's forward motion through space is removed

The released particle of light returns to its natural forward speed, since the speed of the strand particles inside the particle of light, never changed from their continuous constant speed

Neutrinos do not interact with matter

A neutrino has a limited interaction with matter, as its single helix structure does not easily attach itself to a particle of matter

Inertia and momentum are different things

In the model, the particles of matter have inertia but not momentum, and the particles of light have momentum but not inertia

To match our universe, inertia and momentum need to be indistin-guishable, and yet, in the model, inertia and momentum have different causes

As a starting point, the model matches our universe in the sense that the final persistent speed of any of its particles of matter, always correlates to the momentum of the particle of light that is pushing the particle of matter along

A suggestion is required as to how small portions of the attached particle of light may be incrementally removed, when a particle of matter slows down against the model's universal reference frame, due to an electric, magnetic or gravitational field

And similarly, a suggestion is required as to how small amounts of particles of light may be incrementally added, when a particle of matter speeds up against the model's universal reference frame, due to an electric, magnetic or gravitational field

An approach for the above might be the mechanism by which substances lose and gain heat

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The Standard model

In the Standard model of particle physics, the relationship between mass and energy is summarised by Einstein's equation

E = mc²

Which on translation to the relativistic form produces

E² = (m₀c²)² + (pc)²

Where

E is energy

m₀ is invariant mass

p is momentum

c is the speed of light (a constant based on the units used)

The Simple Universe model

For the relativistic equation

E² = (m₀c²)² + (pc)²

For a particle of matter (or a particle of antimatter), the Simple Universe model's interpretation is

Energy is the total number of strand particles

Mass is the number of strand particles in the particle of matter

Momentum is the number of strand particles in the attached particle of light that is pushing the particle of matter along

For a particle of light that is not attached to a particle of matter, the interpretation of the relativistic equation is

Energy is the number of strand particles in the particle of light

Mass is zero (because there are no strand particles present that are in a torus shaped particle)

Momentum is the number of strand particles in the particle of light

And for a collection of particles, the interpretation of the relativistic equation is

Energy is the total number of strand particles in the collection of particles

Mass is the number of strand particles in the particles of matter

Momentum is the number of strand particles in total that are in the particles of light that are pushing the particles of matter along, plus the number of strand particles in any particles of light that are not attached to a particle of matter, plus the number of strand particles in any neutrinos

The mass of a particle does not change

In the model, when an electron or a proton moves, the mass of the electron or proton is not the quality that changes, since the electron or proton's mass is related to the number of strand particles that are in the electron or proton's torus structure

What does change though, is the electron or proton's momentum, which is related to the number of strand particles that are in the attached particle of light, that is pushing the electron or proton along

Matter and the speed of light

In the model, particles of matter do not move forwards faster than light, because it is a particle of light that pushes a particle of matter along

For a particle of matter, reaching the speed of light is also unattainable too, since the particle of matter's persistent resistance to forward movement, always hinders the movement of the attached particle of light to some extent

In the model, there is nothing special about the speed of light, and a particle of light experiences events just as any other particle experiences events

Nor is there anything special about faster than light travel, for that is how the elementary strand particle moves, and as a consequence for example, the surface of the electron has a constant movement that is faster than the speed of light

Perhaps one way to think of movement in the model, is that everything in the atomic world moves at a reasonable, steady pace, and it is us who are very large, and it is us who do things very, very slowly

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The Higgs mechanism

The Standard model of particle physics uses the Higgs field and the Higgs mechanism to model mass, inertia and momentum

For reference, here is a YouTube video (2013) of the Veritasium channel discussing where the mass of the proton comes from

And also for reference, here is a YouTube video (2023) of the But Why? channel discussing mass and energy

And also for reference, here is a YouTube video (2012) of Professor Leonard Susskind's Stanford University lecture discussing the Higgs mechanism and what it means to give mass to particles

Question about mass and the Higgs mechanism

The following is a question posted on the public forum Quora asking about mass and the Higgs field

"Are all (elementary) particles continuously interacting with the Higgs field to have mass?

Or just one time and then they keep their mass?"

And the reply (copyright Viktor Toth 2016)

This question is a perfect example why it is very difficult to provide a "popular" explanation of a complicated physical theory

No, elementary particles that acquire their masses by interacting with the Higgs field do not interact with it once, nor do they interact with it continuously. At least that's not how I would describe what happens. The actual picture is more subtle, and symmetry breaking plays an essential role

Take the electron. Without symmetry breaking, it would be massless, and it would be interacting with the pre-symmetry-breaking form of the Higgs field (the so-called Higgs doublet). Obviously, this interaction would only do anything when excitations of the Higgs field are, in fact, present; in the vacuum, the electron would be moving unimpeded, as a massless particle

But the Higgs field is a very special animal. For all other fields, the field is in its lowest energy state when it has zero excitations (no particles present). Not so with the Higgs. As a result, the Higgs field has a so-called vacuum expectation value. (To make sense of this sentence, it is really important to keep in mind that we are talking about a field theory here; particles are abstractions, quantized excitations of these fields, the real, fundamental physical object is the field itself.)

Symmetry breaking means settling down to the lowest energy state. What used to be excitations of the Higgs field now define the new vacuum. But in this new vacuum, the electron behaves as if it was interacting with the Higgs field even when no excitations of the Higgs field are present! Essentially (and very crudely speaking), instead of interacting with Higgs particles, the electron now interacts with the Higgs field vacuum expectation value, which is a constant value; the strength of the interaction serves as the electron's mass

In other words (and still very crudely speaking; particle physicists, please don't beat me up), because the electron has the ability to interact with the Higgs field before symmetry breaking, it behaves as a massive particle after symmetry breaking even when the Higgs field is in its so-called ground state (no Higgs particles present)

The mechanism by which massive vector bosons acquire their masses is different, but also related to symmetry breaking; and neutrinos, not to mention the Higgs itself, have a priori masses not related to symmetry breaking

I understand that this explanation is likely more confusing than helpful. Unfortunately, I don't think it is possible to offer more clarity without going into the math. This is one of those cases in theoretical physics when nontechnical explanations can only go so far. It's only through the relevant math that terms like symmetry breaking or vacuum expectation value acquire real meaning

Summary

The explanation of mass is complicated

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