W and Z bosons weak-force boson particle. Thus, this interaction requires a Z boson. These bosons are among the heavyweights of the elementary particles. With masses of and , respectively, the W and Z bosons are almost 80 times as massive as the proton – heavier, even, than entire iron atoms. Their high masses limit the range of the weak interaction. By way of contrast, the photon is the force carrier of the electromagnetic force and has zero mass, consistent with the infinite range of electromagnetism; the hypothetical graviton is also expected to have zero mass. (Although gluons are also presumed to have zero
Mathematical formulation of the Standard Model Mathematical formulation of the Standard Model This article describes the mathematics of the Standard Model of particle physics, a gauge quantum field theory containing the internal symmetries of the unitary product group . The theory is commonly viewed as containing the fundamental set of particles – the leptons, quarks, gauge bosons and the Higgs particle. The Standard Model is renormalizable and mathematically self-consistent, however despite having huge and continued successes in providing experimental predictions it does leave some unexplained phenomena. In particular, although the physics of special relativity is incorporated, general relativity is not, and the Standard Model will fail