ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Glashow–Weinberg–Salam (GWS) theory of the electroweak interaction. In the GWS theory, which is termed the standard model, the weak and the electromagnetic interaction are introduced as different components of a single gauge theory. The gauge theory of the electroweak interaction may be tested based on the predictions, which go beyond those of the classical theory. The chapter considers the action of gauge transformations on electrons and neutrinos. The chapter considers the decay of the neutron into a proton. The existence of neutral leptonic may be verified by lepton scattering experiments. The interaction of neutral leptonic with neutral hadronic currents may be investigated in deep inelastic neutrino–nucleon scattering experiments. The most direct test of the Glashow–Weinberg–Salam (GWS) theory is the experimental detection of the predicted gauge bosons.
