Electroweak Symmetry Breaking in Historical Perspective

TL;DR

This paper reviews the historical development of electroweak symmetry breaking theories, highlighting the discovery of the Higgs boson and outlining future questions and unknowns in the field.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive historical perspective on electroweak symmetry breaking and summarizes current knowledge and open questions about the Higgs boson.

Findings

Higgs boson discovery confirmed key aspects of electroweak symmetry breaking

Remaining properties of the Higgs boson are still to be experimentally determined

New theoretical and experimental questions have emerged post-discovery

Abstract

The discovery of the Higgs boson is a major milestone in our progress toward understanding the natural world. A particular aim of this article is to show how diverse ideas came together in the conception of electroweak symmetry breaking that led up to the discovery. I will also survey what we know that we did not know before, what properties of the Higgs boson remain to be established, and what new questions we may now hope to address.