Understanding electroweak symmetry breaking from LHC data

粒子物理学的标准模型（SM）给出了迄今为止已知的所有粒子和力的描述。在过去的50年里，它已经经过了精确的测试。标准模型的理论描述是基于一个优雅的对称原理。它允许用三个参数来描述所有的相互作用，即规范耦合常数。然而，同样的原理预言了SM的所有粒子都应该是无质量的。但事实并非如此，这意味着对称性一定被打破了。这种现象被称为电弱对称破缺（EWSB），造成这种现象的物理原理在很大程度上仍然是未知的，在过去的二三十年里，发现它一直是高能物理学的主要任务之一，无论是理论还是实验。

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.