# GUT Physics in the era of the LHC

## TL;DR

This paper reviews the current status of Grand Unified Theories (GUTs), emphasizing their potential to be tested through cosmological observations, proton decay experiments, and collider searches, highlighting their relevance in modern particle physics.

## Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent experimental and theoretical developments in GUTs, advocating for their continued importance despite the rise of simplified models.

## Key findings

- GUTs may leave imprints in the CMB observable by Planck.
- Proton decay experiments aim to set higher bounds on proton lifetime.
- LHC searches could detect signatures of GUT-related exotic states.

## Abstract

Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) are one of the most interesting high-energy completions of the Standard Model, because they provide a rich, powerful and elegant group-theoretical framework able to resolve a variety of problems remaining in our current understanding of particle physics. They usually act as motivators for many low energy BSM theories, such as left-right symmetric or supersymmetric models, and they serve to fill the gap between the experimentally reachable low energies and the physics in the ultraviolet. In recent years, however, they have fallen slightly from the spotlight, in favour of `simplified' models with more specific phenomenological predictions. The aim of this review is to summarize the state of the art on GUTs and argue for their importance in modern physics. Recent advances in experiments permit to test the predictions of GUTs at different energy scales. First, as GUTs can play a role in the inflationary dynamics of the early Universe, their imprints could be found in the CMB observations by the Planck satellite. Remarkably enough, GUTs could manifest themselves also in terrestrial tests; several planned experiments aim to probe the proton stability and to establish order of magnitude higher bounds on its lifetime. Moreover, the predictions of specific GUT models could be tested even at the LHC thanks to its high energy reach, via searches for exotic states or additional contributions to flavour anomalies.