electroweak theory

American  

[ih-lek-troh-week theer-ee] / ɪˈlɛk troʊˌwik ˌθɪər i /

noun

Physics.

1. a gauge theory that unifies quantum electrodynamics with the theory of weak interactions.

---

Etymology

Origin of electroweak theory

First recorded in 1975–80; electro- + weak; alternative names after U.S. physicist Steven Weinberg (1933–2021) and Pakistani physicist Abdus Salam (1926–96)

Example Sentences

The Z 0 is one of the carrier particles for the weak nuclear force that has now been created in the laboratory with characteristics predicted by electroweak theory.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

In the 1960s, a gauge theory, called electroweak theory, was developed by Steven Weinberg, Sheldon Glashow, and Abdus Salam and proposed that the electromagnetic and weak forces are identical at sufficiently high energies.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

But we’re far from being able to verify the theory—much further than we were from verifying the electroweak theory 40 years ago.

From Scientific American • May 14, 2015

Most physicists believed that a theory called quantum chromodynamics, which explains the strong force, would eventually be encompassed with the electroweak theory under one grand unified theory.

From Time Magazine Archive

Until late 1982 these subatomic particles were known only in theory -- the electroweak theory, which won Nobel Prizes in 1979 for Glashow and two fellow physicists.

From Time Magazine Archive