Final answer:
The Higgs field provides the mechanism by which particles acquire mass, which was previously missing from the Standard Model of particle physics, and was confirmed by the discovery of the Higgs boson.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Higgs field is an essential component of the Standard Model of particle physics. The Standard Model explains how the fundamental particles and forces interact, but without the Higgs field, the model could not account for how particles acquire mass. The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider confirmed the existence of this field. The Higgs field permeates all of space, and as particles interact with it, they acquire mass, which was a missing part of the puzzle in the earlier version of the Standard Model. This mechanism is known as the Higgs mechanism, and it is vital for the consistency of the Standard Model and for our understanding of the universe at the most basic level.