History of Creation and Metaphysical Aspects of Electroweak Theory: Development and Modifications of the Symmetry Principle

The history of the creation of a unified theory of electromagnetic and weak interactions (electroweak theory, also called the Weinberg-Salam theory), which is an essential part of the modern theory of elementary particles and fundamental interactions between them, called the standard model, is explored. The main turning points in this history are highlighted: the concept of non-Abelian gauge fields (Yang-Mills fields, 1954), the promotion of the idea of unifying electromagnetic and weak forces (1958-1959), the discovery of the global internal symmetry of electroweak interactions (1961, S. Glashow), the discovery of based on spontaneous symmetry breaking - the Higgs mechanism (1964), which made it possible to solve the problem of the mass of gauge particles (Weinberg-Salam theory, 1967). The metaphysical aspects of the theory and the process of its construction are considered, mainly related to the principle of symmetry and its various extensions and modifications.