Abstract
In the chiral-Lagrangian approach described in the preceding chapter (which includes the Standard Model as a special case), electroweak symmetry breaking and fermion mass generation are mediated by a matrix-valued field Sigma (Section 2.2.1). If one insists that the symmetries of weak interactions are not just accidental, this field has to be introduced to make them consistent with the existence of masses for fermions and vector bosons, and its transformation properties are fixed. The degrees of freedom that make up Sigma are therefore a probe for the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking.
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