The Higgs Mechanism Electroweak Symmetry Breaking

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Higgs Mechanism Electroweak Symmetry Breaking 0K Higgs Mechanism Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Standard Model Higgs Mechanism False Vacuum Decay References The Higgs Mechanism Electroweak Symmetry Breaking Christopher Dessert November 27, 2017 Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Lagrangian Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Higgs Potential Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Symmetry Breaking False Vacuum Decay Acquiring a mass References Higgs Mechanism Lagrangian The Lagrangian L is the zero-temperature analogue of the free energy F. 1 2 1 1 1 L = φ(_x) − (rφ(x))2 − µ2φ(x)2 + λφ(x)4 2 2 2 4 1 1 V (φ) = − µ2φ(x)2 + λφ(x)4 2 4 Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Lagrangian Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Higgs Potential Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Symmetry Breaking False Vacuum Decay Acquiring a mass References Higgs Mechanism Higgs Potential Higgs potential withμ=1,λ=1 1 2 2 1 4 V(ϕ) V (φ) = − µ φ(x) + λφ(x) 1.0 2 4 0.8 Initially the system has the Z2 0.6 symmetry φ $ −φ. 0.4 2 2 d V (φ) 2 2 2 0.2 m = = −µ + 3λφ = −µ φ dφ2 ϕ -2 -1 0 1 2 µ Vmin = v = p λ Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Lagrangian Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Higgs Potential Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Symmetry Breaking False Vacuum Decay Acquiring a mass References Higgs Mechanism Symmetry Breaking Higgs potential withμ=1,λ=1 Let φ(x) = v + σ(x). V(ϕ) 1.0 p 2 2 3 1 4 0.8 V (σ) = µ σ(x) + λµσ(x) + λσ(x) 4 0.6 Does not have symmetry σ $ −σ. 0.4 This symmetry is broken sponta- 0.2 neously. ϕ 2 2 -2 -1 0 1 2 mσ = 2µ Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Lagrangian Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Higgs Potential Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Symmetry Breaking False Vacuum Decay Acquiring a mass References Higgs Mechanism Acquiring a mass If there is another field in L then it Higgs potential withμ=1,λ=1 V(ϕ) gets a mass even if it is initially mass- 1.0 less. 0.8 2 0.6 V (φ, ) = V (φ) + V ( ) + gφψ 0.4 m2 = 0 0.2 V (σ; ) = V (σ)+V ( )+gv 2+gσ 2 ϕ -2 -1 0 1 2 2 m = 2gv Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Lagrangian Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Higgs Potential Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Symmetry Breaking False Vacuum Decay Acquiring a mass References Higgs Mechanism Higgs Mechanism The field φ gives other fields masses when the φ $ −φ symmetry breaks. We call σ the Higgs field. The process by which other fields get masses is called the Higgs mechanism. Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Free Energy Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Phase Transition Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Order Parameter False Vacuum Decay Acquiring a mass References Free Energy F = H − T S 1 2 1 1 1 1 π2 = φ(_x) − (rφ(x))2 − µ2φ(x)2 + λφ(x)4 + m2 T 2 − T 4 2 2 2 4 24 φ 90 Effective potential 1 1 1 π2 V (φ) = − µ2φ(x)2 + λφ(x)4 + m2 T 2 − T 4 2 4 24 φ 90 1 1 1 1 π2 = − µ2φ(x)2 + λφ(x)4 − µ2T 2 + λφ2T 2 − T 4 2 4 24 8 90 Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Free Energy Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Phase Transition Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Order Parameter False Vacuum Decay Acquiring a mass References Symmetric State Higgs symmetric potential withμ=1,λ=1 V(ϕ) 1.0 0.8 At high temperatures early in the uni- 0.6 verse (<10s), the Higgs potential was 0.4 symmetric and the Higgs had a posi- tive mass. 0.2 ϕ -2 -1 0 1 2 Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Free Energy Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Phase Transition Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Order Parameter False Vacuum Decay Acquiring a mass References Critical State Higgs critical potential withμ=1,λ=1 V(ϕ) 1.0 0.8 At the critical temperature (≈10s), 0.6 the second order phase transition oc- 0.4 curs and the Higgs is massless. 0.2 ϕ -2 -1 0 1 2 Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Free Energy Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Phase Transition Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Order Parameter False Vacuum Decay Acquiring a mass References Broken State Higgs broken potential withμ=1,λ=1 V(ϕ) 1.0 After the phase transition, the temper- 0.8 ature continues to fall and the Higgs (σ) has a positive mass. The ground 0.6 state moves away from φ = 0 and any 0.4 particles interacting with the Higgs ac- 0.2 quire a mass. At zero temperature we ϕ reach the final state. -2 -1 0 1 2 Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Free Energy Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Phase Transition Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Order Parameter False Vacuum Decay Acquiring a mass References Order Parameter ϕ VEV withμ=1,λ=1 ϕmin 8 1.0 0 T ≥ 2v > <> 0.5 φmin(T ) = r 1 > 2 2 T > v − T T < 2v 1 2 3 4 : 4 -0.5 φmin is an order parameter for this -1.0 system! Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Free Energy Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Phase Transition Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Order Parameter False Vacuum Decay Acquiring a mass References Higgs mass ϕ mass2 withμ=1,λ=1 2 mϕ 3.0 2.5 8 1 >−µ2 + λT 2 T ≥ 2v 2.0 > 4 2 < 1.5 mφ(T ) = 1.0 > 1 :> 2µ2 − λT 2 T < 2v 0.5 2 T 1 2 3 4 Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Free Energy Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Phase Transition Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Order Parameter False Vacuum Decay Acquiring a mass References Psi mass mψ withμ=1,λ=1,g=1 mψ 2 1.4 V (σ; ) ⊃ gφmin 1.2 1.0 8 0 T ≥ 2v 0.8 > > 0.6 < m2 (T ) = 0.4 r > 1 0.2 > 2 2 :>2g v − T T < 2v T 4 1 2 3 4 Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Standard Model Electroweak Lagrangian Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking False Vacuum Decay Electromagnetic and Weak Standard Model References Standard Model Electroweak Lagrangian 3 ! 2 g X g 0 X X L ⊃ −V (φ)+ − W i + B φ − λ qq¯ φ− λ ll¯ φ SM 2 2 q l i=1 quarks leptons Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Standard Model Electroweak Lagrangian Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking False Vacuum Decay Electromagnetic and Weak Standard Model References Vector Bosons When we take φ(x) = v + σ(x), 3 ! 2 g X g 0 X X L ⊃ −V (φ)+ − W i + B φ − λ qq¯ φ− λ ll¯ φ SM 2 2 q l i=1 quarks leptons 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 ! gv W + gv W 2 2 2 2 1 g 2 gg 0 W 3 + v 2 W 3 B 8 gg 0 g 02 B 1 W 1 and W 2 bosons get a mass m = gv, these are the charged W 2 vector bosons W ± that mediate the weak interactions. Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Standard Model Electroweak Lagrangian Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking False Vacuum Decay Electromagnetic and Weak Standard Model References Vector Bosons When we take φ(x) = v + σ(x), 3 ! 2 g X g 0 X X L ⊃ −V (φ)+ − W i + B φ − λ qq¯ φ− λ ll¯ φ SM 2 2 q l i=1 quarks leptons 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 ! gv W + gv W 2 2 2 2 1 g 2 −gg 0 W 3 + v 2 W 3 B 8 −gg 0 g 02 B Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Standard Model Electroweak Lagrangian Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking False Vacuum Decay Electromagnetic and Weak Standard Model References Vector Bosons When we take φ(x) = v + σ(x), 3 ! 2 g X g 0 X X L ⊃ −V (φ)+ − W i + B φ − λ qq¯ φ− λ ll¯ φ SM 2 2 q l i=1 quarks leptons 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 ! gv W + gv W 2 2 2 2 1 0 0 A + v 2 AZ 8 0 g 2 + g 02 Z W 3 and B turn into A, the massless photon field that mediates electromagnetism, and Z, the final massive vector boson that 1 mediates weak interactions, with m2 = v 2(g 2 + g 02). Z 4 Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Standard Model Electroweak Lagrangian Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking False Vacuum Decay Electromagnetic and Weak Standard Model References Fermions When we take φ(x) = v + σ(x), 3 ! 2 g X g 0 X X L ⊃ −V (φ)+ − W i + B φ − λ qq¯ φ − λ ll¯ φ SM 2 2 q l i=1 quarks leptons X X ! − λqvqq¯ − λl vll¯ quarks leptons 2 So the fermions get masses mf = 2λf v. Christopher Dessert Higgs Mechanism 0K Higgs Mechanism Finite Temperature Higgs Mechanism Standard Model Electroweak Lagrangian Standard Model Higgs Mechanism Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking False Vacuum Decay Electromagnetic and Weak Standard Model References Electromagnetic and Weak Standard Model We identify the field σ as the Standard Model Higgs boson that gives the vector bosons and the leptons their masses.
Recommended publications
  • Searches for Electroweak Production of Supersymmetric Gauginos and Sleptons and R-Parity Violating and Long-Lived Signatures with the ATLAS Detector
    Searches for electroweak production of supersymmetric gauginos and sleptons and R-parity violating and long-lived signatures with the ATLAS detector Ruo yu Shang University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (for the ATLAS collaboration) Supersymmetry (SUSY) • Standard model does not answer: What is dark matter? Why is the mass of Higgs not at Planck scale? • SUSY states the existence of the super partners whose spin differing by 1/2. • A solution to cancel the quantum corrections and restore the Higgs mass. • Also provides a potential candidate to dark matter with a stable WIMP! 2 Search for SUSY at LHC squark gluino 1. Gluino, stop, higgsino are the most important ones to the problem of Higgs mass. 2. Standard search for gluino/squark (top- right plots) usually includes • large jet multiplicity • missing energy ɆT carried away by lightest SUSY particle (LSP) • See next talk by Dr. Vakhtang TSISKARIDZE. 3. Dozens of analyses have extensively excluded gluino mass up to ~2 TeV. Still no sign of SUSY. 4. What are we missing? 3 This talk • Alternative searches to probe supersymmetry. 1. Search for electroweak SUSY 2. Search for R-parity violating SUSY. 3. Search for long-lived particles. 4 Search for electroweak SUSY Look for strong interaction 1. Perhaps gluino mass is beyond LHC energy scale. gluino ↓ 2. Let’s try to find gauginos! multi-jets 3. For electroweak productions we look for Look for electroweak interaction • leptons (e/μ/τ) from chargino/neutralino decay. EW gaugino • ɆT carried away by LSP. ↓ multi-leptons 5 https://cds.cern.ch/record/2267406 Neutralino/chargino via WZ decay 2� 3� 2� SR ɆT [GeV] • Models assume gauginos decay to W/Z + LSP.
    [Show full text]
  • The Nobel Prize in Physics 1999
    The Nobel Prize in Physics 1999 The last Nobel Prize of the Millenium in Physics has been awarded jointly to Professor Gerardus ’t Hooft of the University of Utrecht in Holland and his thesis advisor Professor Emeritus Martinus J.G. Veltman of Holland. According to the Academy’s citation, the Nobel Prize has been awarded for ’elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interaction in Physics’. It further goes on to say that they have placed particle physics theory on a firmer mathematical foundation. In this short note, we will try to understand both these aspects of the award. The work for which they have been awarded the Nobel Prize was done in 1971. However, the precise predictions of properties of particles that were made possible as a result of their work, were tested to a very high degree of accuracy only in this last decade. To understand the full significance of this Nobel Prize, we will have to summarise briefly the developement of our current theoretical framework about the basic constituents of matter and the forces which hold them together. In fact the path can be partially traced in a chain of Nobel prizes starting from one in 1965 to S. Tomonaga, J. Schwinger and R. Feynman, to the one to S.L. Glashow, A. Salam and S. Weinberg in 1979, and then to C. Rubia and Simon van der Meer in 1984 ending with the current one. In the article on ‘Search for a final theory of matter’ in this issue, Prof. Ashoke Sen has described the ‘Standard Model (SM)’ of particle physics, wherein he has listed all the elementary particles according to the SM.
    [Show full text]
  • Structure of Matter
    STRUCTURE OF MATTER Discoveries and Mysteries Part 2 Rolf Landua CERN Particles Fields Electromagnetic Weak Strong 1895 - e Brownian Radio- 190 Photon motion activity 1 1905 0 Atom 191 Special relativity 0 Nucleus Quantum mechanics 192 p+ Wave / particle 0 Fermions / Bosons 193 Spin + n Fermi Beta- e Yukawa Antimatter Decay 0 π 194 μ - exchange 0 π 195 P, C, CP τ- QED violation p- 0 Particle zoo 196 νe W bosons Higgs 2 0 u d s EW unification νμ 197 GUT QCD c Colour 1975 0 τ- STANDARD MODEL SUSY 198 b ντ Superstrings g 0 W Z 199 3 generations 0 t 2000 ν mass 201 0 WEAK INTERACTION p n Electron (“Beta”) Z Z+1 Henri Becquerel (1900): Beta-radiation = electrons Two-body reaction? But electron energy/momentum is continuous: two-body two-body momentum energy W. Pauli (1930) postulate: - there is a third particle involved + + - neutral - very small or zero mass p n e 휈 - “Neutrino” (Fermi) FERMI THEORY (1934) p n Point-like interaction e 휈 Enrico Fermi W = Overlap of the four wave functions x Universal constant G -5 2 G ~ 10 / M p = “Fermi constant” FERMI: PREDICTION ABOUT NEUTRINO INTERACTIONS p n E = 1 MeV: σ = 10-43 cm2 휈 e (Range: 1020 cm ~ 100 l.yr) time Reines, Cowan (1956): Neutrino ‘beam’ from reactor Reactions prove existence of neutrinos and then ….. THE PREDICTION FAILED !! σ ‘Unitarity limit’ > 100 % probability E2 ~ 300 GeV GLASGOW REFORMULATES FERMI THEORY (1958) p n S. Glashow W(eak) boson Very short range interaction e 휈 If mass of W boson ~ 100 GeV : theory o.k.
    [Show full text]
  • Electro-Weak Interactions
    Electro-weak interactions Marcello Fanti Physics Dept. | University of Milan M. Fanti (Physics Dep., UniMi) Fundamental Interactions 1 / 36 The ElectroWeak model M. Fanti (Physics Dep., UniMi) Fundamental Interactions 2 / 36 Electromagnetic vs weak interaction Electromagnetic interactions mediated by a photon, treat left/right fermions in the same way g M = [¯u (eγµ)u ] − µν [¯u (eγν)u ] 3 1 q2 4 2 1 − γ5 Weak charged interactions only apply to left-handed component: = L 2 Fermi theory (effective low-energy theory): GF µ 5 ν 5 M = p u¯3γ (1 − γ )u1 gµν u¯4γ (1 − γ )u2 2 Complete theory with a vector boson W mediator: g 1 − γ5 g g 1 − γ5 p µ µν p ν M = u¯3 γ u1 − 2 2 u¯4 γ u2 2 2 q − MW 2 2 2 g µ 5 ν 5 −−−! u¯3γ (1 − γ )u1 gµν u¯4γ (1 − γ )u2 2 2 low q 8 MW p 2 2 g −5 −2 ) GF = | and from weak decays GF = (1:1663787 ± 0:0000006) · 10 GeV 8 MW M. Fanti (Physics Dep., UniMi) Fundamental Interactions 3 / 36 Experimental facts e e Electromagnetic interactions γ Conserves charge along fermion lines ¡ Perfectly left/right symmetric e e Long-range interaction electromagnetic µ ) neutral mass-less mediator field A (the photon, γ) currents eL νL Weak charged current interactions Produces charge variation in the fermions, ∆Q = ±1 W ± Acts only on left-handed component, !! ¡ L u Short-range interaction L dL ) charged massive mediator field (W ±)µ weak charged − − − currents E.g.
    [Show full text]
  • ELECTROWEAK PHYSICS Theory for the Experimentalist
    ELECTROWEAK PHYSICS Theory for the experimentalist Chris Hays Oxford University CONTENTS Introduction vii 1 The geometry of forces 1 1.1 The fiber bundle of the universe 2 1.2 Spacetime metric 3 1.3 Connections 5 1.4 Curvature 6 1.5 Principle of least action 7 1.6 Conservation laws 9 2 Path integrals and fields 11 2.1 Non-relativistic path integral 12 2.2 Perturbation theory 13 2.2.1 Green’s functions 14 2.3 Path integral of a scalar field 15 2.3.1 Free-field transition amplitude 16 2.3.2 Interacting-field transition amplitude 17 2.4 Path integral of a fermion field 18 2.5 Path integral of a gauge field 19 2.5.1 Free-field generating functional 21 3 The Higgs mechanism 23 iii iv CONTENTS 3.1 Self-interacting scalar field theory 23 3.1.1 Real scalar field 23 3.1.2 Complex scalar field 24 3.2 Gauged scalar field theory 25 3.2.1 U(1)-charged scalar field 25 3.2.2 SU(2)-charged scalar field 26 3.2.3 Propagators after symmetry breaking 27 4 The Electroweak theory 29 4.1 The Electroweak Lagrangian 29 4.2 Electroweak symmetry breaking 30 4.2.1 Scalar field Lagrangian 31 4.2.2 Fermion field Lagrangian 33 4.3 Electroweak propagators 34 5 Cross sections and Feynman diagrams 37 5.1 Scattering matrix 37 5.2 Cross sections and lifetimes 38 5.3 Feynman rules 40 6 Scalar renormalization 47 6.1 Renormalized Lagrangian 47 6.2 Regularization 49 6.2.1 Propagator loop corrections 49 6.2.2 Vertex loop correction 50 6.3 The renormalization group 51 7 QED renormalization 55 7.1 QED divergences 55 7.2 Fermion self energy 56 7.3 Vacuum polarization 57 7.4 Vertex correction 61
    [Show full text]
  • New Heavy Resonances: from the Electroweak to the Planck Scale
    New heavy resonances : from the electroweak to the planck scale Florian Lyonnet To cite this version: Florian Lyonnet. New heavy resonances : from the electroweak to the planck scale. High Energy Physics - Phenomenology [hep-ph]. Université de Grenoble, 2014. English. NNT : 2014GRENY035. tel-01110759v2 HAL Id: tel-01110759 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01110759v2 Submitted on 10 Apr 2017 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. THÈSE Pour obtenirle grade de DOCTEUR DE L’UNIVERSITÉ DE GRENOBLE Spécialité:Physique Subatomiqueet Astroparticules Arrêtéministériel:7août2006 Présentéepar FlorianLyonnet ThèsedirigéeparIngoSchienbein préparéeau sein Laboratoirede Physique Subatomiqueet de Cosmolo- gie et de Ecoledoctoralede physique de Grenoble New heavy resonances: from the Electroweak to thePlanck scale ThèsesoutenuepubliquementOH VHSWHPEUH , devant le jurycomposéde : Mr. Aldo,Deandrea Prof., UniversitéClaudeBernardLyon 1, Rapporteur Mr. Jean-Loïc,Kneur DR,LaboratoireCharlesCoulombMontpellier,Rapporteur Mr. Roberto Bonciani Dr., UniversitàdegliStudidi Roma”LaSapienza”,Examinateur Mr. MichaelKlasen Prof., UniversitätMünster,Examinateur Mr. FrançoisMontanet Prof.,UniversitéJosephFourierde Grenoble,3UpVLGHQW Mr. JeanOrloff Prof., UniversitéBlaisePascal de Clermont-Ferrand,Examinateur Mr. IngoSchienbein MCF., UniversitéJosephFourier, Directeurde thèse ACKNOWLEDMENGTS My years at the LPSC have been exciting, intense, and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the people that contributed to it on the professional as well as personal level.
    [Show full text]
  • The Charm of Theoretical Physics (1958– 1993)?
    Eur. Phys. J. H 42, 611{661 (2017) DOI: 10.1140/epjh/e2017-80040-9 THE EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL H Oral history interview The Charm of Theoretical Physics (1958{ 1993)? Luciano Maiani1 and Luisa Bonolis2,a 1 Dipartimento di Fisica and INFN, Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy 2 Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany Received 10 July 2017 / Received in final form 7 August 2017 Published online 4 December 2017 c The Author(s) 2017. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract. Personal recollections on theoretical particle physics in the years when the Standard Theory was formed. In the background, the remarkable development of Italian theoretical physics in the second part of the last century, with great personalities like Bruno Touschek, Raoul Gatto, Nicola Cabibbo and their schools. 1 Apprenticeship L. B. How did your interest in physics arise? You enrolled in the late 1950s, when the period of post-war reconstruction of physics in Europe was coming to an end, and Italy was entering into a phase of great expansion. Those were very exciting years. It was the beginning of the space era. L. M. The beginning of the space era certainly had a strong influence on many people, absolutely. The landing on the moon in 1969 was for sure unforgettable, but at that time I was already working in Physics and about to get married. My interest in physics started well before. The real beginning was around 1955. Most important for me was astronomy. It is not surprising that astronomy marked for many people the beginning of their interest in science.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:0905.3187V2 [Hep-Ph] 7 Jul 2009 Cie Ataryo Xeietlifrain the Information
    Unanswered Questions in the Electroweak Theory Chris Quigg∗ Theoretical Physics Department, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510 USA Institut f¨ur Theoretische Teilchenphysik, Universit¨at Karlsruhe, D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany Theory Group, Physics Department, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland This article is devoted to the status of the electroweak theory on the eve of experimentation at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. A compact summary of the logic and structure of the electroweak theory precedes an examination of what experimental tests have established so far. The outstanding unconfirmed prediction of the electroweak theory is the existence of the Higgs boson, a weakly interacting spin-zero particle that is the agent of electroweak symmetry breaking, the giver of mass to the weak gauge bosons, the quarks, and the leptons. General arguments imply that the Higgs boson or other new physics is required on the TeV energy scale. Indirect constraints from global analyses of electroweak measurements suggest that the mass of the standard-model Higgs boson is less than 200 GeV. Once its mass is assumed, the properties of the Higgs boson follow from the electroweak theory, and these inform the search for the Higgs boson. Alternative mechanisms for electroweak symmetry breaking are reviewed, and the importance of electroweak symmetry breaking is illuminated by considering a world without a specific mechanism to hide the electroweak symmetry. For all its triumphs, the electroweak theory has many shortcomings. It does not make specific predictions for the masses of the quarks and leptons or for the mixing among different flavors. It leaves unexplained how the Higgs-boson mass could remain below 1 TeV in the face of quantum corrections that tend to lift it toward the Planck scale or a unification scale.
    [Show full text]
  • Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking in the Higgs Mechanism
    Spontaneous symmetry breaking in the Higgs mechanism August 2012 Abstract The Higgs mechanism is very powerful: it furnishes a description of the elec- troweak theory in the Standard Model which has a convincing experimental ver- ification. But although the Higgs mechanism had been applied successfully, the conceptual background is not clear. The Higgs mechanism is often presented as spontaneous breaking of a local gauge symmetry. But a local gauge symmetry is rooted in redundancy of description: gauge transformations connect states that cannot be physically distinguished. A gauge symmetry is therefore not a sym- metry of nature, but of our description of nature. The spontaneous breaking of such a symmetry cannot be expected to have physical e↵ects since asymmetries are not reflected in the physics. If spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking cannot have physical e↵ects, this causes conceptual problems for the Higgs mechanism, if taken to be described as spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking. In a gauge invariant theory, gauge fixing is necessary to retrieve the physics from the theory. This means that also in a theory with spontaneous gauge sym- metry breaking, a gauge should be fixed. But gauge fixing itself breaks the gauge symmetry, and thereby obscures the spontaneous breaking of the symmetry. It suggests that spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking is not part of the physics, but an unphysical artifact of the redundancy in description. However, the Higgs mechanism can be formulated in a gauge independent way, without spontaneous symmetry breaking. The same outcome as in the account with spontaneous symmetry breaking is obtained. It is concluded that even though spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking cannot have physical consequences, the Higgs mechanism is not in conceptual danger.
    [Show full text]
  • Phase of Confined Electroweak Force in the Early Universe
    PHYSICAL REVIEW D 100, 055005 (2019) Phase of confined electroweak force in the early Universe Joshua Berger,1 Andrew J. Long,2,3 and Jessica Turner4 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA 2Leinweber Center for Theoretical Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA 4Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA (Received 18 June 2019; published 6 September 2019) We consider a modified cosmological history in which the presence of beyond-the-Standard-Model 2 physics causes the weak gauge sector, SUð ÞL, to confine before it is Higgsed. Under the assumption of chiral symmetry breaking, quark and lepton weak doublets form condensates that break the global symmetries of the Standard Model, including baryon and lepton number, down to a U(1) subgroup under which only the weak singlet fermions and Higgs boson transform. The weakly coupled gauge group 3 1 2 1 SUð Þc ×Uð ÞY is also broken to an SUð Þc ×Uð ÞQ gauge group. The light states include (pseudo-) Goldstone bosons of the global symmetry breaking, mostly elementary fermions primarily composed of the weak singlet quarks and leptons, and the gauge bosons of the weakly coupled gauge group. We discuss possible signatures from early Universe cosmology including gravitational wave radiation, topological defects, and baryogenesis. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.100.055005 I. INTRODUCTION composite particles and that the predicted low-energy fermion spectrum agrees well with the measured quark Quarks and leptons can interact via the weak force, and lepton masses.
    [Show full text]
  • Review Article STANDARD MODEL of PARTICLE PHYSICS—A
    Review Article STANDARD MODEL OF PARTICLE PHYSICS—A HEALTH PHYSICS PERSPECTIVE J. J. Bevelacqua* publications describing the operation of the Large Hadron Abstract—The Standard Model of Particle Physics is reviewed Collider and popular books and articles describing Higgs with an emphasis on its relationship to the physics supporting the health physics profession. Concepts important to health bosons, magnetic monopoles, supersymmetry particles, physics are emphasized and specific applications are pre- dark matter, dark energy, and new particle discoveries sented. The capability of the Standard Model to provide health (PDG 2008). Many of the students’ questions arise from physics relevant information is illustrated with application of conservation laws to neutron and muon decay and in the misconceptions regarding the Standard Model and its rela- calculation of the neutron mean lifetime. tionship to the field of health physics (Bevelacqua 2008a). Health Phys. 99(5):613–623; 2010 The increasing number and complexity of these questions Key words: accelerators; beta particles; computer calcula- and misconceptions of the Standard Model motivated the tions; neutrons author to write this review article. The intent of this paper is to present the Standard Model to health physicists in a manner that minimizes the INTRODUCTION mathematical complexity. This is a challenge because the THE THEORETICAL formulation describing the properties Standard Model of Particle Physics is a theory of interacting and interactions of fundamental particles is embodied in fields. It contains the electroweak interaction (Glashow the Standard Model of Particle Physics (Bettini 2008; 1961; Weinberg 1967; Salam 1969) and quantum chromo- Cottingham and Greenwood 2007; Guidry 1999; Grif- dynamics (QCD) (Gross and Wilczek 1973; Politzer 1973).
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to the Standard Model of the Electro-Weak Interactions
    Published by CERN in the Proceedings of the 2015 CERN–Latin-American School of High-Energy Physics, Ibarra, Ecuador, 4 – 17 March 2015, edited by M. Mulders and G. Zanderighi, CERN-2016-005 (CERN, Geneva, 2016) Introduction to the Standard Model of the Electro-Weak Interactions J. Iliopoulos Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de L’Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France Abstract These lectures notes cover the basic ideas of gauge symmetries and the phe- nomenon of spontaneous symmetry breaking which are used in the construc- tion of the Standard Model of the Electro-Weak Interactions. Keywords Lectures; Standard Model; electroweak interaction; gauge theory; spontaneous symmetry breaking; field theory. 1 Introduction These are the notes from a set of four lectures that I gave at the 2015 European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)–Latin-American School of High-Energy Physics as an introduction to more special- ized lectures. With minor corrections, they follow the notes of the lectures I gave at the 2012 CERN Summer School. In both cases, the students were mainly young graduate students doing experimental high-energy physics. They were supposed to be familiar with the phenomenology of particle physics and to have a working knowledge of quantum field theory and the techniques of Feynman diagrams. The lec- tures were concentrated on the physical ideas underlying the concept of gauge invariance, the mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking, and the construction of the Standard Model. Although the methods of computing higher-order corrections and the theory of renormalization were not discussed at all in the lectures, the general concept of renormalizable versus non-renormalizable theories was supposed to be known.
    [Show full text]