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 GeV
. 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 baryogenesis. 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).
See also
- Hierarchy problem
- Grand unification scale (10<sup>16</sup> GeV)
- Planck scale (10<sup>19</sup> GeV)