The Electroweak Field

Gauge bosons should have mass. However, weak force bosons have abnormally large amounts of mass. Why is this? This arises out of a phenomenon called spontaneous symmetry breaking.

​

Spontaneous symmetry breaking describes how a symmetry group is broken in certain conditions. This is seen in the electroweak field. It turns out that the weak force and electromagnetism sort of combine under certain conditions. In other words, they both come from the breaking of a larger symmetry group. That larger group is the electroweak field. The electroweak field obeys U(1) x SU(2) symmetry.

​

Those certain conditions that the electromagnetic field and weak field combine under are temperatures similar to those at the beginning of the universe. By replicating these temperatures in particle accelerators, we experimentally showed that the electroweak field exists with very high precision. This also suggests that both fields were once the same field, but spontaneously broke as the universe cooled down.

​

This electroweak field also turns out to be much more useful mathematically than something like QFD (Quantum Flavordynamics.) QFD is rarely used.​

​

The idea of the electroweak field also set a goal for physicists: the creation of a grand unified theory that combines the strong force into the electroweak force, obeying U(1) x SU(2) x SU(3) symmetry. They do this by looking for deeper and more fundamental symmetries.

​

​