#StudentSeminar: The Higgs mechanism: a gauge-invariant perspective

by Guilherme Catumba (IFIC)

Tuesday 1 Oct 2024, 15:00 → 16:00 Europe/Madrid

1001-Primera-1-1-1 - Paterna. Seminario (Universe)

The Higgs mechanism is a successful and fundamental part of the Standard Model. The usual formulation in perturbation theory relies on the spontaneous breaking of the gauge symmetry, and although heuristically helpful, the physical interpretation of this approach is wrong.   This becomes particularly important for theories beyond the Standard Model, where conventional perturbation theory may lead to the incorrect identification of the spectrum.  In this talk I will give an overview of the mechanism, highlighting the common misconceptions in the physical interpretation and summarizing some of the issues with the usual perturbative formulation.  A gauge-invariant perspective of the mechanism which resolves these conflicts will be introduced, and some of the consequences discussed.