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.   
   >=20   
   > 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?   
   >=20   
   > Yes I know there are key differences:   
   > Supposed aether propagated light (E&M) while   
   > Higgs imparts the inertial mass   
   >=20   
   > Aether was a fixed reference frame   
   > Higgs particles move(?)   
   >=20   
   > 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.   
   >=20   
   > For example, is the Higgs related to the   
   > relativistic length contraction?   
   > relativistic mass increase?   
   >=20   
   > Always open to learning,   
   >    Ed P.   
      
   By the way, it is arguable that the universe DOES have a privileged   
   frame of reference, though the laws of physics do not.  The privileged   
   frame of reference is the frame in which the background microwave   
   radiation of the big bang is isotropic.  None of this has anything   
   to do with the Higgs field or the aether.   
      
   [[Mod. note -- It is certainly true that there is a unique frame   
   in which the CMBR is isotropic (more precisely, in which its dipole   
   component vanishes).  But that's not what's generally meant when   
   speaking of a "priviliged frame of reference" -- that refers to a   
   (hypothesized) frame that can be detected by *local* measurements,   
   i.e., by measurements in a sealed laboratory, without "looking out   
   the window" at the rest of the universe.  Relativity asserts that   
   there is no such frame.   
   -- jt]]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)