Summary

This paper, by François Englert and R. Brout, presents a mechanism for generating mass for vector bosons within the framework of gauge field theory. The central thesis is that spontaneous symmetry breaking of a gauge invariance in a scalar field theory leads to massive vector bosons, without explicitly breaking gauge invariance in the Lagrangian. This resolves the problem of massless vector bosons predicted by standard gauge theories, which is inconsistent with the observed massive W and Z bosons.

The paper introduces a scalar field coupled to gauge fields. When this scalar field acquires a non-zero vacuum expectation value, the gauge symmetry becomes spontaneously broken. This breaking mechanism allows the gauge bosons to acquire mass through interaction with the scalar field, while maintaining the renormalizability of the theory. The paper establishes that a consistent theory of massive vector mesons can be constructed via this symmetry-breaking principle.

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Key concepts

Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking — A phenomenon where the ground state of a system does not possess the symmetry of its underlying laws of physics.
Gauge Invariance — A symmetry of a physical system indicating that certain transformations leave the physical observables unchanged.
Vector Mesons — Composite particles made of a quark and an antiquark, which have integer spin and are bosons.
Scalar Field — A field that associates a scalar value to every point in spacetime.
Vacuum Expectation Value (VEV) — The average value of a quantum field in the vacuum state, which can be non-zero for some fields.