Understanding electroweak symmetry breaking from LHC data

粒子物理学的标准模型(SM)描述了迄今为止已知的所有粒子和力。在过去的50年里，它经过了精准的测试。标准模型的理论描述是基于优雅的对称性原理。它允许仅用三个参数来描述所有的相互作用，即规范耦合常数。然而，同样的原理预言SM的所有粒子都应该是无质量的。事实并非如此，这意味着对称必须以某种方式被打破。这种现象被称为电弱对称破缺(EWSB)，造成这种现象的物理机制在很大程度上是未知的，揭开它是过去二三十年来高能物理的主要任务之一，无论是理论上的还是实验上的。

The Standard Model(SM) of particle physics gives a description of all the particles and forces known to date. Over the past 50 years it has been tested to exquisite precision. The theoretical description of the Standard Model is based on an elegant symmetry principle. It allows to describe of all interactions in term of only three parameters, namely the gauge coupling constants. However, the same principle predicts that all the particles of the SM should be massless. This is not the case, which means that the symmetry must somehow be broken. This phenomenon is called electroweak symmetry breaking(EWSB) and the physics responsible for it remains to a large extend unknown and uncovering it has been one of the main quests of high energy physics, both theoretical and experimental for the past two or three decades.