None

In the Standard Model (SM) of the elementary particles, the interactions among the known fundamental fermions (leptons and quarks) are mediated through gauge bosons which obey the symmetry: SU(3) {circle_times} SU(2) {circle_times} U(1). More precisely, the electroweak interaction [4-6] is described by a gauge symmetry SU(2) {circle_times} U(1) which is broken spontaneously. The electroweak symmetry breaking is implemented by the introduction of a complex scalar Higgs field which has a non-zero vacuum expectation value (vev). This way, the lagrangian of the theory remains invariant under SU(2) transformations, but quantization of the fields must start from a ground state which does not exhibit this symmetry, and therefore the full symmetry of the lagrangian is not manifest. Invariance of the theory under local SU(2) transformations implies the presence of vectorial gauge fields which mediate the electroweak interactions. The so called spontaneous symmetry breaking allows the quanta of these gauge fields, the W and Z bosons, to acquire a finite mass. The photon, the particle which mediates the electromagnetic interaction, remains massless. The Higgs boson is one of only two particles in the SM which have not yet been directly observed (the other is the {nu}{sub {tau}}, although there is indirect evidence of …