# From the Standard Model towards a Theory of Matter: Quarks

## TL;DR

This paper revises the Standard Model to propose a universal fermion mass structure, highlighting the need for BSM physics to fully explain observed masses and providing constraints on new physics, with implications for perturbative calculations.

## Contribution

It introduces a universal Higgs coupling framework for fermions, moving towards a Theory of Matter and constraining BSM matrix elements based on quark phenomenology.

## Key findings

- Reduces the Higgs coupling constant by an order of magnitude.
- Highlights the role of BSM physics in fermion mass hierarchy.
- Provides constraints on BSM matrix elements.

## Abstract

We follow the example of Cabibbo by revising the Standard Model (SM) to present a universal mass structure for fermions. A universal Higgs coupling for each species of fundamental fermions moves the SM towards a Theory of Matter, albeit without correctly describing the observed mass spectrum. It exposes a need for a complete Theory of Matter to include components from physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). Describing the effect of these components phenomenologically provides a means to infer the nature of some of the BSM physics required. Our results also provide constraints on some BSM matrix elements. Here we apply this concept to quarks; the application to leptons will appear in a separate paper. An immediate benefit for theory is the reduction of the largest fine structure constant for the Higgs coupling to fermions by an order of magnitude, which improves the perturbative appearance of the weak interactions. The small mixing of the third generation of each fermion in the fermion families to the others is attributed to the small BSM perturbations that produce the small mass ratio of the lighter generations to the most massive one.