Editing Electroweak scale (section)

{{Short description|Standard energy scale for electroweak processes of 246 GeV}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2019}}
In [[particle physics]], the '''electroweak scale''', also known as the '''Fermi scale''', is the [[energy scale]] around 246 [[GeV]], a typical [[energy]] of processes described by the [[electroweak theory]]. The particular number 246 GeV is taken to be the [[vacuum expectation value]] <math>v = (G_F \sqrt{2})^{-1/2}</math> of the [[Higgs field]] (where <math>G_F</math> is the [[Fermi coupling constant]]). In some cases the term ''electroweak scale'' is used to refer to the temperature of electroweak symmetry breaking, 159.5±1.5&nbsp;[[GeV]]<ref>{{Cite journal
      |author         = D'Onofrio, Michela and Rummukainen, Kari
      |title          = Standard model cross-over on the lattice
      |journal        = Phys. Rev.
      |volume         = D93
      |year           = 2016
      |number         = 2
      |pages          = 025003
      |doi            = 10.1103/PhysRevD.93.025003
      |arxiv = 1508.07161
 |bibcode = 2016PhRvD..93b5003D
 |s2cid = 119261776
 }}</ref>
. In other cases, the term is used more loosely to refer to energies in a broad range around 10<sup>2</sup> - 10<sup>3</sup> GeV. This is within reach of the [[Large Hadron Collider]] (LHC), which is designed for about 10<sup>4</sup> GeV in proton–proton collisions.

Interactions may have been above this scale during the [[electroweak epoch]].  In the unextended [[Standard Model]], the transition from the [[electroweak epoch]] was not a first or a second order [[phase transition]] but a continuous crossover, preventing any [[Electroweak baryogenesis|baryogenesis]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bergerhoff |first1=Bastian |title=Current Topics in Astrofundamental Physics: Primordial Cosmology |last2=Wetterich |first2=Christof |chapter=Electroweak Phase Transition in the Early Universe? |date=1998 |pages=211–240 |doi=10.1007/978-94-011-5046-0_6 |publisher=Springer Netherlands |language=en|arxiv=hep-ph/9611462 |isbn=978-94-010-6119-3 |s2cid=13949582 }}</ref>  However many extensions to the standard model including [[supersymmetry]] and the inert double model have a first order electroweak phase transition (but still lack additional [[CP violation]]).