We present the phenomenology of the weak interactions in a historical perspective, from Fermi’s four-fermion theory to the V−A current×current interaction. The experiments of C.S. Wu, which established parity violation, and M. Goldhaber, which measured the neutrino helicity, are described. We study in turn the leptonic, semi-leptonic and non-leptonic weak interactions. We introduce the concept of the conserved vector current and the partially conserved axial current and show that the latter is the result of spontaneously broken chiral symmetry with the pion the corresponding pseudo-Goldstone boson. We study Gell–Mann’s current algebra and derive the Adler–Weisberger relation. Strangeness changing weak interactions and the Cabibbo theory are described. We present a phenomenological analysis of CP-violation in the neutral kaon system and we end with the intermediate vector boson hypothesis.
New analysis ofO14β decay: Branching ratios and conserved vector current consistency
