SUSY GUTs: A practical introduction

An introduction to the most important concepts in the subject of supersymmetric unified theories is presented. The emphasis is on the practical aspects leading to state-of-the-art calculations in this renascent subject. The topics covered include: generalities of supersymmetric unified theories, gauge and Yukawa coupling unification including the most up-to-date numerical analyses, soft supersymmetry breaking, and radiative electroweak symmetry breaking enforced using the tree-level and one-loop effective potentials. This class of supersymmetric models can be described in terms of five parameters: the top-quark mass ($m_t$), the ratio of Higgs vacuum expectation values ($\tan\beta$), and three universal soft-supersymmetry-breaking parameters ($m_{1/2},m_0,A$). Thus, highly correlated predictions can be expected for all conceivable experimental observables. In effect, these general models provide a basic framework upon which more constrained models can be built.