The equation neatly sums up our current understanding of fundamental
particles and forces. It represents mathematically what we call The
Standard Model of particle physics.
The top line describes the forces: electricity, magnetism and the strong and weak nuclear force.
The second line describes how these forces act on fundamental particles of matter, namely the quarks and leptons.
The third line describes how these particles obtain their masses from the Higgs boson, and the fourth line enables the Higgs boson to do the job.
Many
experiments at CERN and other laboratories have verified the top two
lines in detail. One of the primary objectives of the LHC is to see
whether the Higgs boson exists and behaves as predicted by the last two
lines.
