From: patzermike.mc@gmail.com   
      
   On Friday, July 13, 2018 at 1:09:22 AM UTC-4, Edward Prochak wrote:   
   > I am looking for opinions from the more experienced physicists here.   
   >   
   > Inertial mass is considered to arise from the Higgs particle.   
   > Since the Higgs particles are supposed to permeate all of space,   
   > have we come full circle in defining something similar to the   
   > aether?   
   >   
   > Yes I know there are key differences:   
   > Supposed aether propagated light (E&M) while   
   > Higgs imparts the inertial mass   
   >   
   > Aether was a fixed reference frame   
   > Higgs particles move(?)   
   >   
   > I'm not ready for a deep dive into the mathematics,   
   > but it like some thought about the Higgs and maybe   
   > other similarities and differences from the aether.   
   > My goal is not to define a new Aether, but to understand   
   > the Higgs.   
   >   
   > For example, is the Higgs related to the   
   > relativistic length contraction?   
   > relativistic mass increase?   
   >   
   > Always open to learning,   
   >    Ed P.   
      
   As I understand it, there is no connection between the Higgs field and   
   the aether.  The reason for the original aether concept was that   
   Maxwell's equations are incompatible with a Newtonian notion of   
   relativity based on the Galilei transformations.  Hence they postulated   
   the "luminiferous aether", a mysterious "substance" that permeated the   
   universe and transmitted electromagnetic waves, but interacted with   
   nothing else.  The idea was that there is a privileged frame of   
   reference in which the aether is stationary.  In that frame light   
   propagates with speed c in any direction.  The high accuracy of the   
   Maxwell equations observed in laboratory experiments would follow if the   
   speed of the earth with respect to the aether is always small with   
   respect to light.  Einstein preferred to abandon Newton's absolute space   
   and time rather than to believe that a principle of relativity does not   
   apply to electromagnetic phenomena.  Special relativity, based on the   
   Lorentz transformations applies to electromagnetism as well as to   
   (suitably reformulated) mechanical phenomena.   
      
   The Higgs field, like all other field theories is specifically   
   constructed to be Lorentz invariant.  I see no similarity with the old   
   aether theories.   
      
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