Related papers: Proton Stability and Superstring Z'
The Standard Model indicates the realization of grand unified structures in nature, and can only be viewed as an effective theory below a higher energy cutoff. While the renormalizable Standard Model forbids proton decay mediating operators…
Proton stability is one of the most perplexing puzzles in particle physics. While the renormalizable Standard Model forbids proton decay mediating operators due to accidental global symmetries, many of its extensions introduce such…
We advocate the idea that proton decay may probe physics at the Planck scale instead of the GUT scale. This is possible because supersymmetric theories have dimension-5 operators that can induce proton decay at dangerous rates, even with…
The Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with conserved R-parity suffers from several fine-tuning problems, e.g. the mu-problem and the problem of proton decay through higher dimension operators. Both of these problems can be…
Grand unification, and its incarnation in the form of heterotic-string unification, are the only extensions of the Standard Model that are rooted in the structure of the Standard Model itself. In this context, it was proposed that the…
We demonstrate the existence of an extra nonanomalous U(1) gauge symmetry in a three-generation Pati-Salam model constructed with intersecting D6-branes in Type IIA string theory on a T^6/(Z_2 \times Z_2) orientifold. This extra U(1)…
The Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is plagued by two major fine-tuning problems: the mu-problem and the proton decay problem. We present a simultaneous solution to both problems within the framework of a U(1)'-extended MSSM…
A proton is known for its longevity, but what is its lifetime? While many Grand Unified Theories predict the proton decay with a finite lifetime, we show that the Standard Model (SM) and some versions of Ultra Unification (which replace…
Recently, a new mechanism, which explains why the three gauge coupling constants meet at a certain scale in the minimal supersymmetric standard model, has been proposed in a scenario of grand unified theories with anomalous $U(1)_A$ gauge…
Models of supersymmetric grand unified theories based on SU(5)_GUT \times U(N)_H gauge group (N = 2,3) have a symmetry that guarantees light Higgs doublets and absence of dimension-five proton decay operators. We analysed the proton decay…
We perform a detailed study of the grand unified theories $SO(10)$ and $E(6)$ with left-right intermediate gauge symmetries of the form $SU(N)_L\otimes SU(N)_R \otimes \mathcal{G}$. Proton decay lifetime constrains the unification scale to…
A broad overview of the current status of proton stability in unified models of particle interactions is given which includes non - supersymmetric unification, SUSY and SUGRA unified models, unification based on extra dimensions, and…
We show that one loop GUT scale threshold corrections to gauge couplings are a significant constraint on the GUT symmetry breaking sector of the theory. The one loop threshold corrections relate the prediction for $\alpha_s(M_Z)$ to the…
We discuss proton decay in a recently proposed model of supersymmetric hybrid inflation based on the gauge symmetry $SU(4)_c \times SU(2)_L \times SU(2)_R$. A $U(1)\, R$ symmetry plays an essential role in realizing inflation as well as in…
We discuss how realistic supersymmetric models can be constructed by employing an anomalous ${\cal U}(1)$ flavor symmetry which also mediates supersymmetry breaking. A judicious choice of ${\cal U}(1)$ charges enables the first two squark…
Even without grand unification, proton decay can be a powerful probe of physics at the highest energy scales. Supersymmetric theories with conserved R-parity contain Planck-suppressed dimension 5 operators that give important contributions…
We explore the phenomenological viability of a light Z' in heterotic-string models, whose existence has been motivated by proton stability arguments. A class of quasi-realistic string models that produce such a viable Z' are the Left-Right…
We study the proton lifetime in the $SO(10)$ Grand Unified Theory (GUT), which has the left-right (LR) symmetric gauge theory below the GUT scale. In particular, we focus on the minimal model without the bi-doublet Higgs field in the LR…
We discuss the proton decay problem in theories with low gravity and/or GUT scales. We pointed out that the gravity induced proton decay can be indeed suppressed up to a desired level, while the GUT origin of the proton instability is…
Supersymmetry is one of the best motivated new physics scenarios. To build a realistic supersymmetric standard model, however, a companion symmetry is necessary to address various issues. While R-parity is a popular candidate that can…