The Standard Model of Electroweak Interactions

Abstract

Gauge invariance is a powerful tool to determine the dynamical forces among the fundamental constituents of matter. The particle content, structure and symmetries of the Standard Model Lagrangian are discussed. Special emphasis is given to the many phenomenological tests which have established this theoretical framework as the Standard Theory of the electroweak interactions: electroweak precision tests, Higgs searches, quark mixing, neutrino oscillations. The present experimental status is summarized.Comment: Based on lectures given at the 6th CERN-Fermilab Hadron Collider Physics Summer School (Geneva, 2011), 2010 European School of HEP (Raseborg, Finland), 2010 Int. School on Astroparticle Physics (Zaragoza, Spain), 2010 IDPASC School (Sesimbra, Portugal) and 2009 Int. Summer School and Conference on HEP (Mugla, Turkey, 2009). 52 pages, 38 figure