3. Example of a particle physics gas pedal: LEP

As mentioned above, the unification of the electromagnetic and weak interactions requires the creation of particles with masses of around 90 GeV/c ² : the W ^± and Z ⁰ bosons. In the framework of the electroweak theory, an electron-positron pair can not only annihilate into a photon, via the electromagnetic interaction, but also into a neutral Z ⁰ boson via the weak interaction. In particular, if the energy of the pair e ⁺ e ^- is of the order of magnitude of the mass of the Z ⁰ , the two modes are of comparable intensity. Thus, by directing an electron and a positron, each...