Electroweak Theory and the Origin of the Fundamental Forces

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Our universe seems pretty complicated. We have a weird zoo of elementary particles, which interact through very different fundamental forces. But some extremely subtle clues in nature have led us to believe that the forces of nature were once unified, ruled by a single, grand symmetry. But how does one force separate into multiple? And how do the forces of nature arise from mathematical symmetries in the first place?

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Hosted by Matt O'Dowd
Written by Graeme Gossel & Matt O'Dowd
Graphics by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini, & Pedro Osinski
Directed by: Andrew Kornhaber
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[kicapanmanis]

“Our universe seems pretty complicated”

Understatement of the year, Matt.

[slash]

Spacetime is so good it makes me feel like I understand things that I DEFINITELY do not understand.

[Zero]

I can't even imagine how satisfying it must have been when this theory got proved at CERN.

[CinereoTheRogue]

The outro to every video having, usually a run-on sentence, an extended play on words to bulk it all back into a thematically relevant and compressed summary of the video inevitably bounding it all back in to the everything-ness of.... Spacetime; it always gets me! Every single time! I love it! ^.^

[Kwauhn.]

Hey matt! Just want to say I appreciate you and the whole SpaceTime team! You guys are by far my favourite YouTube channel!

[Digga]

This is the first episode in a long time where I really didn’t understand much of anything. My head hurts

[Pennaflumen]

This was definitely one of the harder to understand videos you've done.
But I respect that the subject of the electro-weak force is just complicated, so I appreciate the explanation all the same.

[caderlocke]

I would LOOOOVEEE a follow-up video on this subject!! As a non-physicist, I have been DESPERATE to understand symmetry breaking, gauge field theory and special unitary groups. This video did more for me than any book I've ready so far but still left me with more questions than answers (as it should!)

[technocore]

I love being walked carefully through Feynman diagrams. For a moment I think "I understood that" but then I realize a moment later, "Nope, I got nothing."

[jaredbutler]

This one was definitely worth waiting till the end. I was a bit confused for a while but it came together beautifully in the end! Great vid!

[chriso]

OMG. It's been a while since I had my head explode while watching a spacetime episode!

[paulscott]

I have a physics and engineering background but still look forward to everything you release - and learn a huge amount. Please keep up the amazing work!

[XboxSlimFan]

The example of spontanious symmetry breaking of a magnetic field at the Curie temperature is brilliant.

[nicesai]

I am super addicted to this channel now, please don't stop, ever, even when you reach the end of .... spacetime.

[SuperLoops]

Matt's t-shirt is violating symmetry :(

[Bobbias]

I need to say thank you so much. This is by far the most concise and understandable explanation of this concept I have ever seen. I want to say that you guys are doing incredible work. I never thought I would see a day where pop science presentation meets the required level of depth on the subject matter to really explain the mathematical underpinnings without getting too far into the weeds.

[ghoxon]

Matt I'm genuinely bewildered how you can be a professor and do this on the side. I'm an academic too, and I wish I had the time to engage in this type of science communication.

[rolo_jd]

This video made it's way through my recommended playlist, and I have never been more thankful for it. So fascinating.

[docopoper]

Yay! The advanced episodes are back. I am honestly learning so much from this channel as someone without a physics degree that loves quantum mechanics and GR.

Just gotta say that so that you know it's still super valuable. This is what sets this channel apart from pop-sci to me. I actually have to rewatch parts and think hard about how to imagine it all without it being impossible to parse for a lay person like a textbook this advanced might be.

[purplenanite]

So, if you heated a region of space above 10^15K, could you get the Electroweak force to break symmetry in a different way?
Like how heating and cooling the bar magnets can lead to the group pointing in a different direction.