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The Englert–Brout–Higgs mechanism — An unfinished project

Tian Yu Cao

Department of Philosophy, Boston University, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA

https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217751X16300611Cited by:0 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

The conceptual foundation of the Englert–Brout–Higgs (EBH) mechanism (understood as a set of a scalar field’s couplings to a gauge system and a fermion system) is clarified (as being provided by broken symmetry solution of the scalar field and broken symmetry solutions of the gauge and fermion systems induced by the scalar field’s couplings to these systems, which are manifested in massive scalar and vector bosons as a result of reorganizing the physical degrees of freedom in the scalar and gauge sectors, whose original organization renders possible the broken symmetry solution to the scalar sector and symmetrical solutions to the gauge sector); its ontological status, as a physically real mechanism or merely an instrumental device, is examined, and a new ontologically primary entity, the symbiont of scalar–vector moments is suggested to replace the old ontology of scalar field and vector (gauge) field as the physical underpinning for a realistic understanding of the EBH mechanism; with a conclusion that two puzzles, the transmutation of the Goldstone modes’ dynamic identity and the fixity in reorganizing the physical degrees of freedom within the symbiont, have to be properly addressed before a consistent realist understanding of the mechanism can be developed.

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