Related papers: The problems of unification-mismatch and low $\alp…
We consider the phenomenological implications of a class of compactified string theories which naturally reproduces the flavour multiplet structure of the Standard Model. The implications for gauge unification depends on which of three…
Unified theories based on an extended left-right symmetric group, $SU(4) \times SU(2)^4$, are constructed in five dimensions. The compactification scale is assumed to be only a loop factor above the weak scale, so that the weak mixing angle…
We study a supersymmetric extension of the vector-like lepton scenario, such that the vacuum instability induced by large lepton Yukawa couplings is lifted by the presence of superpartners at or below the TeV scale. In order to preserve the…
The approximate unification of gauge couplings is the best indirect evidence for low-energy supersymmetry, although it is not perfect in its simplest realizations. Given the experimental evidence for small non-zero neutrino masses, it is…
Supersymmetric Grand Unified Theories have a rich spectrum of particles barely heavier than the intermediate vector bosons. As their non-supersymmetric counterparts, they lead to many relations among low energy observables. But the precise…
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 present a simple solution to the little hierarchy problem in the MSSM: a vector-like fourth generation. With O(1) Yukawa couplings for the new quarks, the Higgs mass can naturally be above 114 GeV. Unlike a chiral fourth generation, a…
In the minimal supersymmetric standard model, the three gauge couplings appear to unify at a mass scale near $2 \times 10^{16}$ GeV. We investigate the possibility that intermediate scale particle thresholds modify the running couplings so…
A recent signal of 750 GeV diphotons at the LHC can be explained within the framework of supersymmetric unification by the introduction of vector quarks and leptons with Yukawa couplings to a singlet S that describes the 750 GeV resonance.…
We make a detailed study of the unification of gauge couplings in the MSSM with large extra dimensions. We find some scenarios where unification can be achieved (with the strong coupling constant at the Z mass within one standard deviation…
We explore the idea of quark-lepton unification at low energies. In particular, we discuss the minimal framework for matter unification at the multi-TeV scale, in which neutrino masses are necessarily generated via the inverse seesaw…
The idea of reduction of couplings consists in searching for renormalization group invariant relations between parameters of a renormalizable theory that hold to all orders of perturbation theory. Based on the principle of the reduction of…
We have recently proposed an alternative picture for the physics at the scale of gauge coupling unification, where the unified symmetry is realized in higher dimensions but is broken locally by a symmetry breaking defect. Gauge coupling…
We show that if the string scale is identifed with the intermediate scale, $M_s=\sqrt{M_W M_{Planck}} \sim 10^{11}$ GeV, then the notorious hierarchy, $M_W/M_{Planck} \sim 10^{-16}$, can be explained using only $M_c/M_s \sim 0.01 \sim…
We make a comprehensive analysis of an extended supersymmetric model(ESSM) obtained by adding a pair of vector-like families to the minimal supersymmetric standard model and having specific forms of 5 x 5 fermion mass matrices. The singlet…
We look for minimal extensions of Standard Model with vector like fermions leading to precision unification of gauge couplings. Constraints from proton decay, Higgs stability and perturbativity are considered. The simplest models contain…
A recent surge of interest in the {\em early} unification of quarks and leptons, has prompted us to revive a paper \cite{HBB} written twenty two years ago. We provided there a general discussion of quark-lepton unification characterized by…
Higher dimensional grand unified theories, with gauge symmetry breaking by orbifold compactification, possess SU(5) breaking at fixed points, and do not automatically lead to tree-level gauge coupling unification. A new framework is…
In the MSSM, an unfortunate prediction of minimal anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking is that the slepton masses squared are negative. This problem is particularly intractable because of the insensitivity of anomaly mediation to…
The apparent unification of gauge couplings around 10^16 GeV is one of the strong arguments in favor of Supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model (SM). In this contribution a new analysis, using the latest experimental data, is…