The role of gauge theory, symmetry-breaking, and electroweak unification in the discovery of weak neutral currents

Conference · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States)

OSTI ID:7033251

Bludman, S A ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 (United States)

The three historical and logically independent components of the Electroweak Standard Model are the exact chiral gauge theory of weak interactions, the Higgs mechanism for spontaneous symmetry-breaking, and electroweak mixing. I put into historical perspective my 1958 invention of the first gauge theory of weak interactions, predicting weak neutral currents, and show how the fundamental differences between global and gauge symmetries and between partial and exact symmetries gradually emerged. Only renormalizability is necessary for theoretical consistency; electroweak mixing is logically independent. This extra unification condition'' distinguishes a unified theory, even in the sin[sup 2][theta][sub [ital W]][r arrow]0 limit, from a pure [ital SU](2)[sub [ital W]] gauge theory of weak interactions. In the low-energy effective theory, the effects of unification turn out to be small ([lt]11%). Nevertheless, [ital historically] the mixing sin[sup 2] [theta][sub [ital W]][similar to]0.3 observed in the first weak neutral current experiments gave circumstantial support for the Standard Model and targeted the search for W- and Z-bosons.

• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76ER03071
• OSTI ID: 7033251
• Report Number(s): CONF-930293-; CODEN: APCPCS
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States), Vol. 300:1; Conference: International symposium on 30 years of neutral currents, Los Angeles, CA (United States), 3-5 Feb 1993; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
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WEINBERG-SALAM GAUGE MODEL
SYMMETRY BREAKING
GAUGE INVARIANCE
HIGGS MODEL
INTERMEDIATE VECTOR BOSONS
RENORMALIZATION
SU-2 GROUPS
U-1 GROUPS
V-A THEORY
WEAK NEUTRAL CURRENTS
WEINBERG ANGLE
ALGEBRAIC CURRENTS
BOSONS
CURRENTS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FIELD THEORIES
INTERMEDIATE BOSONS
INVARIANCE PRINCIPLES
LIE GROUPS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NEUTRAL CURRENTS
PARTICLE MODELS
SU GROUPS
SYMMETRY GROUPS
U GROUPS
UNIFIED GAUGE MODELS
UNIFIED-FIELD THEORIES
662210* - Specific Theories & Interaction Models
Particle Systematics- Unified Theories & Models- (1992-)
662110 - General Theory of Particles & Fields- Theory of Fields & Strings- (1992-)