So if we look at the four fundamental interactions electromagnetic, gravitational, weak and strong then Higgs makes its grand entry in the context of weak interactions. These are not the day to day type of experience interactions. Electromagnetic interactions are experienced daily-when you comb your dry hair you feel the electric charge, you do not touch high tension lines, you know magnets. Gravitational interactions are also familiar-you do not want to fall even on the floor. Weak and strong interactions are not so common. But they are not uncommon too-at least now a days. Radioactivity is all about them. So is cancer therapy using Cobalt-60 source. So is nuclear power. So is atom bomb. So is hydrogen (also called thermo-nuclear device in general). So if you have studies even little bit of history of discovery of radioactivity then you know about weak interactions. When we talh about Fukushima Disaster in recent Tsunami in Japan, or Chernobyl Disaster or Three Mile Island Disaster then we are talking about nuclear interactions, that is, weak and strong interactions. In fact mostly weak interactions.
Since these interactions occur in rather special circumstances, mainly deep inside the nucleus there study understanding too was bit late. The currently acceptable theory of weak interactions, the Salam-Weinberg Model, was proposed in the year of Six-Day-War between Egypt-Syria-Jordan and Israel, that is 1967. Better understanding of strong interactions dawned in the year of Yaum Kippur war, that is 1973. That is also the year when the Salam-Weinberg model was experimentally verified-before that it was just a proposed model-it could have been disproved by experiments. But that 1973 verification was verification of only one of the predictions of Salam-Weinberg Model. Over the years other, and much more spectacular, predictions of Salam-Weinberg model have been verified-one after another and yet another. Last one was in 1995-the discovery of a new particle called the top quark. It sounds so long ago-from the point of view of progress of modern society. One last piece of Salam-Weinberg Model remains to be checked experimentally and that of course is the new filed or particle called Higgs.
Salam-Weinberg Model is part of the so called Standard Model of particle Interactions. The Standard Model is just the name given to Salam-Weinberg Model combined with the theory of strong interactions. There is a name for the latter theory too but why should we bother about that name when we just want to talk about weak interactions-the locality in particle world where Higgs resides.
Actualy Salam-Weinberg model is not only a theory of weak interactions it also incorporates the earlier theory of electromagnetic interactions. Not Maxwell's theory but the finer version that includes quantum mechanics.
This combination of two theories is called unification-the current fad in particle physics. But I digress.
I need one more post to round it up but I'll check whether you have gone to sleep or not.
Wassalam
Links: (1) Part One (2) Originally at Sunni Forum