Gauge Theories and Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking.

1980 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. H. Sattinger ◽  
O. L. Weaver
1976 ◽  
Vol 54 (16) ◽  
pp. 1660-1663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shalom Eliezer

We have presented a special case where a hierarchy of spontaneous breaking of the symmetries can be achieved in conventional gauge theories (i.e. the Higgs scalars are elementary bosons and the coupling constants of the quartic interactions are small). We break spontaneously the chiral group SU(N) × SU(N) with Higgs scalars transforming like the (N, [Formula: see text]) representation of SU(N) × SU(N). By minimizing the potential we obtain a set of algebraic equations of the type[Formula: see text]where ηj are the vacuum expectation values of the Higgs scalars and μi2 and Aij are parameters. In order to get a hierarchy of spontaneous symmetry breaking we obtain the condition det Aij = 0.


Author(s):  
T. W. B. Kibble

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.


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