Symmetry breaking: The standard model and superstrings

The outstanding unresolved issue of the highly successful standard model is the origin of electroweak symmetry breaking and of the mechanism that determines its scale, namely the vacuum expectation value (vev)v that is fixed by experiment at the value v = 4m//sub w//sup 2///g2 = (√2G/sub F/)/sup /minus/1/ ≅ 1/4 TeV. In this talk I will discuss aspects of two approaches to this problem. One approach is straightforward and down to earth: the search for experimental signatures, as discussed previously by Pierre Darriulat. This approach covers the energy scales accessible to future and present laboratory experiments: roughly (10/sup /minus/9/ /minus/ 103)GeV. The second approach involves theoretical speculations, such as technicolor and supersymmetry, that attempt to explain the TeV scale. 23 refs., 5 figs