electroweakTheorie

Electroweaktheorie is a fundamental theory in particle physics that unifies two of the four fundamental forces of nature: electromagnetism and the weak nuclear force. Developed by Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam, and Steven Weinberg, it describes these forces as different manifestations of a single, underlying electroweak interaction. At low energies, this interaction appears as two distinct forces, but at higher energies, they merge into a single force mediated by specific force-carrying particles.

The theory predicts the existence of several fundamental particles. These include the photon, which mediates the electromagnetic force, and the W and Z bosons, which mediate the weak nuclear force. Crucially, the electroweak theory also explains the phenomenon of electroweak symmetry breaking, where at lower energies, the W and Z bosons acquire mass, while the photon remains massless. This mass difference is attributed to the Higgs mechanism, involving the Higgs field and its associated particle, the Higgs boson. The experimental discovery of the W and Z bosons in the early 1980s and the Higgs boson in 2012 provided strong validation for the electroweak theory. It is a cornerstone of the Standard Model of particle physics.