After introducing the Maxwell equations and reviewing the salient features of electromagnetism, I explain how the Maxwell equations can be modified to describe the weak interactions that are responsible for $\beta$-decay. The journey takes us through spontaneous symmetry breaking and the Higgs mechanism which gives rise to the Higgs particle that seems to be of central importance to our existence.

It was discovered at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland in 2011.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2013

François Englert

Peter W. Higgs

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2013 was awarded jointly to François Englert and Peter W. Higgs "for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider"

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Electromagnetism

Weak interactions

Spontaneous symmetry breaking