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http://www.quantumdiaries.org/2014/12/01/standard-model-introduction/
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Quantum Diaries
http://www.quantumdiaries.org/2014/12/01/standard-model-introduction/
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Quantum Diaries
http://www.quantumdiaries.org/2014/12/01/standard-model-introduction/
The photon () is the gauge boson for electromagnetism, and the rules of electromagnetism at small distances and high energies are called quantum
electrodynamics, or QED.The gluon (g) is the gauge boson for the strong force, and its rules are called quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The strong force is
responsible for holding the proton together: protons and neutrons are made up quarks that are bound together by gluons. Weak forces are responsible for
certain types of radioactive decay and flavor-changing interactions. For example: an electron can radiate a W boson and become an electron-neutrino, and a
top quark dominantly decays into a bottom quark and a W boson. The gauge bosons of weak isospin are the W1, W2, and W3 bosons; for weak hypercharge,
this is the B boson. However, at low energies, weak charges are no longer conserved. What is conserved is the sum of isospin and hypercharge. The Ws, B,
and three Higgs bosons (more on this in a bit) then combine, becoming the W+, W-, and Z bosons, collectively call the weak bosons. These are very massive
particles, about 80 and 90 times more massive than the proton.
Higgs Bosons: In the SM, there are four Higgs bosons: H (sometimes call the Higgs boson), 1, 2, and 3. All four Higgs are scalars (zero spin) and carry
both weak isospin and weak hypercharge; two carry nonzero electric charge. A summary of all particles and how they can interact are described in this
image:
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Quantum Diaries
http://www.quantumdiaries.org/2014/12/01/standard-model-introduction/
Any two particles connected by a line can interact. Some bosons can interact with bosons of their own type.
Mass and Electroweak Symmetry Breaking: In the early universe, all elementary fermions and gauge bosons were massless. At some point, everything
underwent a phase transition that broke the hypercharge and isospin conservation laws. During this phase transition, quarks and charged leptons acquired
mass. The massless hypercharge and isospin gauge bosons along with 1, 2, and 3 mixed and became the massive W+, W-, and Z bosons. Because of
this, the W+, W-, and Z bosons can mediate weak interactions but, under the right conditions, behave like the scalars 1, 2, and 3. This phenomenon is
called electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB). After EWSB, there is one remaining physical Higgs boson, H, which was only just discovered in 2012.
To summarize:
1. The Standard Model of Particle physics is presently our best description of how matter behaves and interacts at very small distances and very high
energies.
2. Elementary particles are not made of any smaller particle and are divided into two categories: fermions (half-integer spin) and bosons (integer spin)
3. Fermions make up matter (like protons and atoms), and come in 12 different varieties, or flavors.
4. Gauge bosons mediate forces: the photon mediates electromagnetism, the gluon mediates the strong force, and the W+, W-, and Z bosons mediate the
weak forces.
5. The Higgs bosons are scalars (zero spin) and facilitate electroweak symmetry breaking. After EWSB, only one Higgs boson, H, remains.
6. Only the photon and gluon are massless; everything else has a mass.
7. Not everything in the SM agrees with data, but we have yet to find a better theory.
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