Suppression of Higgsino mediated proton decay by cancellations in grand unified theories and strings

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2008 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.77.015015· OSTI ID:21035751

Nath, Pran; Syed, Raza M ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115-5000 (United States)

A mechanism for the enhancement for proton lifetime in supersymmetric/supergravity (SUSY/SUGRA) grand unified theories and in string theory models is discussed where Higgsino mediated proton decay arising from color triplets (antitriplets) with charges Q=-1/3(1/3) and Q=-4/3(4/3) is suppressed by an internal cancellation due to contributions from different sources. We exhibit the mechanism for an SU(5) model with 45{sub H}+45{sub H} Higgs multiplets in addition to the usual Higgs structure of the minimal model. This model contains both Q=-1/3(1/3) and Q=-4/3(4/3) Higgs color triplets (antitriplets) and simple constraints allow for a complete suppression of Higgsino mediated proton decay. Suppression of proton decay in an SU(5) model with Planck scale contributions is also considered. The suppression mechanism is then exhibited for an SO(10) model with a unified Higgs structure involving 144{sub H}+144{sub H} representations. The SU(5) decomposition of 144{sub H}+144{sub H} contains 5{sub H}+5{sub H} and 45{sub H}+45{sub H} and the cancellation mechanism arises among these contributions which mirror the SU(5) case. The cancellation mechanism appears to be more generally valid for a larger class of unification models. Specifically the cancellation mechanism may play a role in string model constructions to suppress proton decay from dimension five operators. The mechanism allows for the suppression of proton decay consistent with current data allowing for the possibility that proton decay may be visible in the next round of nucleon stability experiment.

• OSTI ID: 21035751
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 77; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
COLOR MODEL
GRAND UNIFIED THEORY
HIGGS BOSONS
HIGGS MODEL
LIFETIME
PARTICLE DECAY
PROTONS
SO-10 GROUPS
STRING MODELS
SU-5 GROUPS
SUPERGRAVITY
SUPERSYMMETRY
TRIPLETS