Sorry if this sounds stupid, does the supposed Higgs field exist now, or could it have been present just after the big bang and imparted mass to those particles at that time? Also how does the Higgs particle get this mass just by interacting, what happens(or happened) to this field, what powers(?) this field?

I'm not sure why there aren't any replies to this. Is it just to difficult or stupid?

 

I thought I would pose this to a forum that usually has lots of viewpoints and generally answers as well, must have been mistaken!

 

Even someone pointing me in the direction to answer would be helpful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_mechanism

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_field

 

 

Start with the above. My (limited) understanding is that the Higgs field has been around from the start.