Summary

This collection of papers by François Englert outlines the theoretical foundation and experimental implications of the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism. Its central thesis is that elementary particles acquire mass through their interaction with a pervasive, fundamental field, the Higgs field. Englert details the mathematical framework that predicts the existence of this field and its associated particle, the Higgs boson.

Readers will understand how this mechanism resolves a critical problem in the Standard Model of particle physics, explaining why fundamental bosons like the W and Z bosons are massive, while the photon is massless. The papers discuss the symmetry breaking involved in this process, a key concept that leads to the generation of mass. The outcome is a deeper comprehension of the origin of mass for fundamental particles and its significance for the universe's structure.

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Key concepts

Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism — A theory explaining how elementary particles acquire mass through interactions with a universal field.
Higgs field — A scalar field pervading spacetime, whose excitations are Higgs bosons.
Spontaneous symmetry breaking — A phenomenon where a system's ground state has less symmetry than its underlying physical laws.
Gauge bosons — Force-carrying particles in quantum field theory, which can acquire mass via the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism.
Standard Model of particle physics — A theoretical framework describing three of the four known fundamental forces and the elementary particles that constitute matter.