PHYSICS SEMINAR
The Higgs Mechanism in the Standard Model
Hugues Beauchesne
Bishop's University
Friday, February 24, 2012
1:30 p.m.
Nicolls 213
Abstract
The Standard Model of particle physics is the most popular theory explaining the behavior of quarks, leptons and gauge bosons. Writing down the most general renormalizable Lagrangian that contains only these fields and is consistent with the required SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) symmetry, one finds that all particles must be massless. To solve this problem, we introduce a scalar doublet called the Higgs field. Symmetry breaking then provides a mass to all massive particles.
The presentation will proceed as follows. We first discuss some preliminary mathematical concepts. Some basic ideas from Quantum Field Theory will then be elaborated. We finally explain the Higgs mechanism itself.
