The Standard Model and beyond

Contents & literature

Contents of the lecture

The Standard Model of elementary particle physics agrees very well with all current experimental observations, but leaves many questions unanswered. Important examples are the hierarchy problem of the Standard Model Higgs mechanism, i. e. the stabilization of the electroweak symmetry breaking scale with respect to the Planck scale, the unsatisfactory fermion multiplet structure and mass range, and the nature of dark matter. This lecture offers a critical review of the theoretical foundations of the Standard Model, of the current experimental results with an emphasis on the neutrino sector, the discovery of the Higgs boson and dark matter searches, and of possible answers to the open questions in theories with unified gauge interactions, supersymmetry, or extra dimensions.

Useful references

• M. Schwartz: Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model
• T.P. Cheng, L.F. Li: Gauge Theory of Elementary Particle Physics
• F. Halzen, A. Martin: Quarks and Leptons
• P. Langacker: The Standard Model and Beyond
• M. Fukugita, T. Yanagida: Physics of Neutrinos
• K. Zuber: Neutrino Physics
• S. Dawson, R.N. Mohapatra: Colliders and Neutrinos
• D. Kazakov, S. Lavignac, J. Dalibard: Particle Physics Beyond the Standard Model