The construction of the standard gauge theory of weak and electromagnetic interactions (the Standard Model) will be described in detail, starting from phenomenological evidences and theoretical prejudices. Special attention will be devoted to the internal consistency of the theory (gauge invariance and anomaly cancellation). The mechanism of generation of particle masses, and the violation of flavour symmetries will be illustrated.
In the second part of the lectures, some more specific topics, such as theoretical bounds on the Higgs boson mass, and the violation of the CP invariance in the standard model, will be discussed.
