Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking

In this episode, we talk about an idea central to both condensed matter and particle physics-spontaneous symmetry breaking. Starting from the instructive example of a ferromagnet, we move to the famous Higgs mechanism in the context of gauge theories. We discuss the question of why the Higgs is so light, how the same problem shows up in inflationary cosmology, and the can of worms this 'naturalness' problem opens up- as a reminder of how little are QFTs understood.