Editing Hierarchy problem (section)

=== Higgs mass ===
In [[particle physics]], the most important hierarchy problem is the question that asks why the [[weak force]] is 10<sup>24</sup> times as strong as [[gravity]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Lecture 1: Introduction; Couloumb's law; Superposition; Electric energy |url=https://web.mit.edu/sahughes/www/8.022/lec01.pdf |access-date=4 November 2023 |website=[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]}}</ref> Both of these forces involve constants of nature, the [[Fermi constant]] for the weak force and the [[Newtonian constant of gravitation]] for gravity.  Furthermore, if the [[Standard Model]] is used to calculate the quantum corrections to Fermi's constant, it appears that Fermi's constant is surprisingly large and is expected to be closer to Newton's constant unless there is a delicate cancellation between the bare value of Fermi's constant and the quantum corrections to it.

[[File:Hqmc-vector.svg|thumb|300px|right|Cancellation of the [[Higgs boson]] quadratic [[mass renormalization]] between [[fermion]]ic [[top quark]] loop and [[scalar field|scalar]] stop [[squark]] tadpole [[Feynman diagram]]s in a [[supersymmetry|supersymmetric]] extension of the [[Standard Model]]]]

More technically, the question is why the [[Higgs boson]] is so much lighter than the [[Planck mass]] (or the [[grand unification energy]], or a heavy neutrino mass scale): one would expect that the large quantum contributions to the square of the Higgs boson mass would inevitably make the mass huge, comparable to the scale at which new physics appears unless there is an incredible [[Fine-tuning (physics)|fine-tuning]] cancellation between the quadratic radiative corrections and the bare mass.

The problem cannot even be formulated in the strict context of the Standard Model, for the Higgs mass cannot be calculated. In a sense, the problem amounts to the worry that a future theory of fundamental particles, in which the Higgs boson mass will be calculable, should not have excessive fine-tunings.