Standard Model of elementary particles

We know from the standard model of elementary particle physics [116] that there is a tiny weak interaction contribution to every Coulomb interaction. For ordinary matter, where particle interconversion can be ignored, weak interactions due to exchange of neutral Z vector bosons are involved. Unlike the Coulomb interaction, the (neutral and charged variants of) weak interactions do not conserve parity. This leads, in consequence, to a very small energy difference between mirror-image molecules (enantiomers), which in turn might prove to be of importance for the development of a homochiral biochemistry on our planet [117]. 

Abstract The present experimental evidence seems to support the Standard Model of elementary particles, which interprets the world as consisting of 12 basic fermions six quarks and six leptons with their antiparticles, 13 hosons mediating the strong, electromagnetic and weak interactions, and the mysterious Hi s hoson. This chapter attempts to overview the basic features of the Standard Model with a minimal mathematical apparatus. 

Comparison of quantities observable in electron-positron collisions of energies near the Z mass with the predictions of the Standard Model of elementary particles (Amsier et al. 2008). Note the high precision of the calculations and the good agreement between theory and experiment. At present the largest deviation is in the electron-positron forward-backward asymmetry and the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. If a measured quantity has two uncertainties, the first one is the statistical and the second the systematic error... 

At various points in this book we have talked rather optimistically about future accelerators, in particular about the gigantic, 54 miles in circumference, Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) which was to be built at Waxahachie in Texas and which would have produced 20 TeV -I- 20 TeV proton-proton collisions. The energy densities attainable would have matched those found in the universe as close as 10 seconds to the big bang, providing extraordinary possibilities for testing not just the standard model of elementary particle interactions, but the whole picture of the evolution of the universe. 

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