Standard Model physics at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper reviews Standard Model physics at the LHC, highlighting how precise measurements and theoretical foundations test the model and explore proton structure, electroweak parameters, and the Higgs boson, building on Guido Altarelli's contributions.

Contribution

It synthesizes recent experimental results and theoretical developments in SM physics at the LHC, emphasizing the connection to Guido Altarelli's work on QCD and parton distributions.

Findings

Precise measurements of SM parameters like the W boson mass.

Confrontation of LHC data with SM predictions tests.

Insights into proton structure and electroweak interactions.

Abstract

In this contribution to the volume "From My Vast Repertoire -- The Legacy of Guido Altarelli" I discuss selected topics of Standard Model (SM) physics at the LHC and their connection to the work of Guido Altarelli. An overarching connection is given by Guido's fundamental contributions to our understanding of the strong force, parton distribution functions and their evolution, and techniques to calculate theoretical predictions through perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics. The increasingly precise LHC measurements of diverse processes can be confronted with SM predictions relying on these foundations to test the SM and contribute to the knowledge of the proton structure. The LHC experiments have also started to perform precise measurements of SM parameters, such as the mass of the W boson, and have measured a variety of processes sensitive to interactions of multiple electroweak bosons. The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 and the measurements of its properties are crucial to establish the nature of the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking and the status of these studies is summarised.