The first was that chance plays a fundamental role in the interactions of elementary particles, and therefore in the way the world works.

ECONOMIST: 100 years of Einstein

They also have to be shielded from the attentions of other elementary particles that might confuse the signal.

ECONOMIST: Particle physics

The Higgs mechanism explains why the building blocks known as elementary particles have mass.

BBC: Peter Higgs: honour for physicist who proposed particle