Electroweak Symmetry Breaking

10⁻¹² s · Very Early Universe

Temperature (K): 1000000000000000
When: 10⁻¹² s
Redshift: —
Era: Very Early Universe
Seconds After Big Bang: 1e-11

What Happened

The Higgs field settles into its non-zero value. The W and Z bosons acquire mass, the photon does not, and one force becomes two: the weak force and electromagnetism.

Researchers

Steven Weinberg Sheldon Glashow Abdus Salam François Englert Peter Higgs

Equations

Standard Model Lagrangian Higgs Potential

Theories

Electroweak Unification Higgs Mechanism

Referenced by

equation

Higgs Potential Standard Model Lagrangian

researcher

Abdus Salam François Englert Peter Higgs Sheldon Glashow Steven Weinberg

theory

Electroweak Unification Higgs Mechanism

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From the Cosmic Timeline database in Notion, last edited 2026-08-21. This page is the row, rendered by the build; nothing on it is written by hand.