In particle physics, the electroweak interaction is the unified description of two of the four fundamental interactions of nature: electromagnetism and the weak interaction. Although these two forces appear very different at everyday low energies, the theory models them as two different aspects of the same force. Above the unification energy, on the order of 10² GeV, they would merge into a single electroweak force. Thus if it is hot enough (big bang hot, for example) then Electromagnetic force and weak force will merge into Electroweak. Particles explode from the collision point of two relativistic (100 GeV per nucleon) gold ions in the STAR detector of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. ... A fundamental interaction is a mechanism by which particles interact with each other, and which cannot be explained by another more fundamental interaction. ... Electromagnetism is the force observed as static electricity, and causes the flow of electric charge (electric current) in electrical conductors. ... The weak nuclear force or weak interaction is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. ... A GEV (or Ground Effect Vehicle) is vehicle that takes advantage of the aerodynamic principle of ground effect (or Wing-in-ground). ...

Mathematically, the unification is accomplished under an SU(2) × U(1) gauge group. The corresponding gauge bosons are the photon of electromagnetism and the W and Z bosons of the weak force. In the Standard Model, the weak gauge bosons get their mass from the spontaneous symmetry breaking of the electroweak symmetry from SU(2) × U(1)_Y to U(1)_em, caused by the Higgs mechanism (see also Higgs boson). The subscripts are used to indicate that these are different copies of U(1); the generator of U(1)_em is given by Q = Y/2 + I₃, where Y is the generator of U(1)_Y (called the weak hypercharge), and I₃ is one of the SU(2) generators (a component of weak isospin). The distinction between electromagnetism and the weak force arises because there is a (nontrivial) linear combination of Y and I₃ that vanishes for the Higgs boson (it is an eigenstate of both Y and I₃, so the coefficients may be taken as −I₃ and Y): U(1)_em is defined to be the group generated by this linear combination, and is unbroken because it doesn't interact with the Higgs. In mathematics, the special unitary group of degree n is the group of n by n unitary matrices with determinant 1 and entries from the field C of complex numbers, with the group operation that of matrix multiplication. ... In mathematics, the unitary group of degree n over the field F (which is either the field R of real numbers or the field C of complex numbers) is the group of n by n unitary matrices with entries from F, with the group operation that of matrix multiplication. ... In physics, gauge theories are a class of physical theories based on the idea that symmetry transformations can be performed locally as well as globally. ... Boson (game) Bosons, named after Satyendra Nath Bose, are particles which form totally-symmetric composite quantum states. ... The word light is defined here as electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength; thus, X-rays, gamma rays, ultraviolet light, microwaves, radio waves, and visible light are all forms of light. ... In physics, the W and Z bosons are the elementary particles that mediate the weak nuclear force. ... The Standard Model of Fundamental Particles and Interactions For the Standard Model in Cryptography, see Standard Model (cryptography). ... Unsolved problems in physics: What causes anything to have mass? Mass is a property of a physical object that quantifies the amount of matter and energy it is equivalent to. ... Spontaneous symmetry breaking in physics takes place when a system that is symmetric with respect to some symmetry group goes into a vacuum state that is not symmetric. ... The Higgs mechanism or Anderson-Higgs mechanism, originally proposed by the British physicist Peter Higgs based on a suggestion by Philip Anderson, is the mechanism that gives mass to all elementary particles in particle physics. ... The Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive scalar elementary particle predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. ... Weak hypercharge is twice the difference between the electrical charge and the weak isospin. ... The weak isospin in theoretical physics parallels the idea of the isospin under the strong interaction, but applied under the weak interaction. ...

For contributions to the unification of the weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam, and Steven Weinberg were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979. The existence of the electroweak interactions was experimentally established in two stages: the first being the discovery of neutral currents in neutrino scattering by the Gargamelle collaboration in 1973, and the second in 1983 by the UA1 and the UA2 collaborations that involved the discovery of the W and Z gauge bosons in proton-antiproton collisions at the converted Super Proton Synchrotron. Particles explode from the collision point of two relativistic (100 GeV per nucleon) gold ions in the STAR detector of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. ... Sheldon Glashow at Harvard University Professor Sheldon Lee Glashow (born December 5, 1932) is an American physicist. ... Abdus Salam at Nobel Prize ceremony with the King of Sweden Dr. Abdus Salam (Urdu: پروفیسر ڈاکٹر عبد السلام) (January 29, 1926 at Santokdas, Sahiwal in Punjab – 21 November 1996 in Oxford, England) was a Pakistani theoretical physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979 for his work in electroweak theory which... Steven Weinberg at Harvard University Steven Weinberg (born May 3, 1933) is an American physicist. ... Hannes Alfvén (1908–1995) accepting the Nobel Prize for his work on magnetohydrodynamics [1]. List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physics from 1901 to the present day. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ...

See also

• Fundamental forces
• Formulation of the standard model