Theoretical Study of the Electroweak Interaction -- Present and Future

Abstract

There have been several important recent developments in precision electroweak tests. These include: the new LEP energy scan during the 1993 run; the first high-precision results on the left-right asymmetry from the SLD Collaboration at SLAC; the probable discovery of the top quark by the CDF Collaboration at Fermilab and the determination of its mass. I will discuss the implications of these and earlier results for testing the standard model; for the standard model parameters, including the top quark mass, the Higgs mass, the weak mixing angle, and the strong coupling constant, $\alpha_s$; and the search for new physics. In particular, given the CDF direct determination of $m_t$ it is now possible to severely constrain certain types of new physics by separating the contribution from new physics from the dependence on $m_t$.