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In particle physics, the electroweak interaction or electroweak force is the unified description of two of the fundamental interactions of nature: electromagnetism (electromagnetic interaction) and the weak interaction. Although these two forces appear very different at everyday low energies, the theory models them as two different aspects of ...
The discovery of weak neutral currents was a significant step toward the unification of electromagnetism and the weak force into the electroweak force, and led to the discovery of the W and Z bosons. In simple terms
The electroweak force only existed at temperatures approaching 10 15 Kelvin (about 1,800,000,000,000,000 ºF), which is why you’re not seeing much electroweak action nowadays.
In quantum mechanics, physicists often use the terms "force" and "interaction" interchangeably; for example, the weak interaction is sometimes referred to as the "weak force". According to the present understanding, there are four fundamental interactions or forces: gravitation, electromagnetism, the weak interaction, and the strong interaction ...
The Standard Model of particle physics is the theory describing three of the four known fundamental forces (electromagnetic, weak and strong interactions – excluding gravity) in the universe and classifying all known elementary particles.
Charged current interactions are the most easily detected class of weak interactions. The weak force is best known for mediating nuclear decay. It has very short range, but is the only force (apart from gravity) to interact with neutrinos. The weak force is communicated via the W and Z exchange particles.
The theory describing its behaviour and effects is sometimes called quantum flavordynamics (QFD); however, the term QFD is rarely used, because the weak force is better understood by electroweak theory (EWT). [1] The effective range of the weak force is limited to subatomic distances and is less than the diameter of a proton. [2]
In physical cosmology, the electroweak epoch was the period in the evolution of the early universe when the temperature of the universe had fallen enough that the strong force separated from the electronuclear interaction, but was still high enough for electromagnetism and the weak interaction to remain merged into a single electroweak interaction above the critical temperature for electroweak ...