Spontaneous symmetry breaking in gauge theories
- 13 January 2015
- journal article
- review article
- Published by The Royal Society in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
- Vol. 373 (2032), 20140033-12
- https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0033
Abstract
The aim of this historical article is to describe the development of the idea of spontaneous symmetry breaking in gauge theories as seen from my perspective as a member of Abdus Salam's group at Imperial College London, UK. Beginning with an account of particle physics in the years after the Second World War, I describe early attempts at constructing a unified theory of weak and electromagnetic interactions, the obstacles encountered and how they were eventually overcome with the mass-generating mechanism incorporating the idea of spontaneous symmetry breaking, one of whose features is the now-famous Higgs boson.Keywords
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