Quark strong interactions as a possible mechanism of symmetry breaking in weak interactions

A new mechanism for symmetry breaking is suggested which is connected with the negative contribution of quark loops to the vacuum energy and with the strong interactions of quarks with gluons diminishing this effect. The “gluon mechanism” of symmetry breaking makes it possible to estimate the mass of the heaviest quark (～ 60 GeV) and the mass of the Higgs boson (～ 7 GeV).