Related papers: Reconciling Grand Unification with Strings by Anis…
It is often argued that in the class of non-supersymmetric SO(10) grand unified theories there is barely any room for reconciling the lower bound on the position of the GUT scale emerging from the proton decay searches and the lower limit…
The string landscape suggests that the supersymmetry breaking scale can be high, and then the simplest low energy effective theory is the Standard Model (SM). Considering grand unification scale supersymmetry breaking, we show that gauge…
This is a pedagogical review article surveying the various approaches towards understanding gauge coupling unification within string theory. As is well known, one of the major problems confronting string phenomenology has been an apparent…
Maximally supersymmetric SO(10) and SU(6) unified theories are constructed on the orbifold T^2/(Z_2 x Z'_2), with one length scale R_5 taken much larger than the other, R_6. The effective theory below 1/R_6 is found to be the highly…
The success of SU(5)-like gauge coupling unification boundary conditions $g_3^2=g_2^2=5/3 g_1^2$ has biased most attempts to embed the SM interactions into a unified structure. After discussing the limitations of the orthodox approach, we…
We look for the minimal particle content which is necessary to add to the standard model in order to have a complete unification of gauge couplings and gravity at the weakly coupled heterotic string scale. Using the current precision…
We study the gauge coupling unification of the minimal supersymmetric standard model with non-universal soft scalar and gaugino masses. The unification scale of the gauge couplings is estimated for non-universal cases. It is sensitive to…
Traditional ideas for testing unification involve searching for the decay of the proton and its branching modes. We point out that several astrophysical experiments are now reaching sensitivities that allow them to explore supersymmetric…
We explore the extent to which string theories with higher-level gauge symmetries and non-standard hypercharge normalizations can reconcile the discrepancy between the string unification scale and the GUT scale extrapolated from the Minimal…
In the superstring models we have not only the complete {\bf 27} multiplets of $E_6$ but also extra incomplete $({\bf 27}+{\overline {\bf 27}})$ chiral supermultiplets being alive at low energies. Associated with these additional…
We describe a class of supersymmetric unified models with the following properties: i) the full breaking of the gauge group is achieved by Higgs fields in the fundamental representation; ii) the correct unification of the strong and…
The prediction of the strong coupling constant in grand unified theories is reviewed, first in the standard model, then in the supersymmetric version. Various corrections are considered. The predictions in both supergravity-induced and…
It is commonly believed that grand unified theories (GUTs) predict proton decay. This is because the exchange of extra GUT gauge bosons gives rise to dimension 6 proton decay operators. We show that there exists a class of GUTs in which…
We investigate correlation between gauge coupling unification, fermion mass spectrum, proton decay, perturbativity and ultraviolet cutoff within an SU(5) grand unified theory with minimal scalar content and an extra adjoint representation…
We consider gauge coupling unification in models with TeV scale strings and large compact dimensions realized as type IIB string orientifolds. Following an observation by Ibanez we show that the gauge couplings at low energies can behave as…
We study proton decay in a six-dimensional orbifold GUT model with gauge group $SO(10)\times U(1)_A$. Magnetic $U(1)_A$ flux in the compact dimensions determines the multiplicity of quark-lepton generations, and it also breaks supersymmetry…
Proton decay is a smoking gun signature of Grand Unified Theories (GUTs). Searches by Super-Kamiokande have resulted in stringent limits on the GUT symmetry breaking scale. The large-scale multipurpose neutrino experiments DUNE,…
It is noted that, but for one missing piece -- proton decay -- the evidence in support of grand unification is now strong. It includes: (i) the observed family-structure, (ii) the meeting of the gauge couplings, (iii) neutrino-oscillations,…
If nature is described by string theory, and if the compactification radius is large (as suggested by the unification of couplings), then the theory is in a regime best described by the low energy limit of $M$-theory. We discuss some…
We study non-universal corrections to the gauge couplings due to higher dimensional operators in supersymmetric SU(5) grand unified theories. The corrections are, in general, parametrized by three components originating from {\bf 24}, {\bf…