Minimal SO(10) grand unified theory

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6741321

Terry, D C

A viable SO(10) model which is miminal in the Higgs content, needing only three representations to perform the necessary symmetry breaking and to give the fermions their masses is proposed. Exactly one 10 and one 126 will produce a phenomenologically acceptable fermion mass spectrum from a general analysis of their Yukawa couplings, and the initial symmetry breaking at the grand unified mass scale of approx. 10/sup 15/ GeV may be achieved with one 45 representation. The main contribution to the weak SU(2)/sub L/ symmetry breaking arises from the vacuum expectation value (VEV) given to the 10, rather than the one attributed to the 126, so that the 126 essentially breaks the residual symmetry from the initially broken SO(10) into an approximate QCD-Weinberg-Salam group SU(3)/sub c/ x SU(2)/sub L/ x U(1)/sub Y/. From there, the 10 reduces the remaining symmetry into the observed low-energy group, SU(3)/sub c/ x U(1)/sub Q/. An interesting variant of the standard model is examined by choosing the 45 and 126 VEVs appropriately. The possibility of an intermediate mass scale between 10/sup 2/ and 10/sup 15/ GeV exists. Included in the fermion mass matrix are massive neutrinos. The physical neutrino eigenmasses is calculated. The resulting neutrino oscillations, which should currently be visible only in solar lengths, are allowed to be quite significant. The fact the (e ..-->.. e) diagonal flavor-change probability can be lower than 60% offers a solution to the solar neutrino problem: why neutrinos are apparently lost in coming from the sun, yet reactors and accelerators show no hard evidence for neutrino oscillations at this time. Extensive computer modeling is used in support of all predictions for the fermion masses and neutrino oscillations.

• Research Organization: Purdue Univ., Lafayette, IN (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6741321
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

645400* -- High Energy Physics-- Field Theory
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EXPECTATION VALUE
FERMIONS
FIELD THEORIES
GRAND UNIFIED THEORY
LEPTONS
LIE GROUPS
MASS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NEUTRINOS
OSCILLATIONS
PARTICLE MODELS
SIMULATION
SO GROUPS
SYMMETRY BREAKING
SYMMETRY GROUPS
UNIFIED GAUGE MODELS
UNIFIED-FIELD THEORIES
VACUUM STATES