Beyond the Standard Model

Abstract

The standard model of particle interactions is a complete and relatively simple theoretical framework which describes all the observed fundemental forces. It consists of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) [1] and of the electro-weak theory of Glashow, Salam and Weinberg [2]. The former is the theory of coloured quarks and gluons, which underlies the observed phenomena of strong interactions, the latter leads to a unified description of electromagnetism and of weak interactions. The inclusion of the classical Einstein theory of gravity completes the set of established basic knowledge. The standard model is in agreement with essentially all of the experimental information which is very rich by now. The recent discovery [3] of the charged and neutral intermediate vector bosons of weak interactions at the expected masses has closed a really important chapter of particle physics. Never before the prediction of new particles was so neat and quantitatively precise.