SO(10): a Case for Hadron Colliders

TL;DR

This paper explores the minimal SO(10) grand unified theory, predicting new scalar particles below 10 TeV accessible at colliders and linking these to proton decay experiments, thus guiding future experimental searches.

Contribution

It demonstrates that minimal SO(10) models with specific Higgs content predict accessible scalar particles and a proton lifetime below 10^{35} years, connecting collider and proton decay phenomenology.

Findings

Scalar W, Z, quark doublet, and gluon below 10 TeV

Proton lifetime predicted below 10^{35} years

Potential detection at LHC and future proton decay experiments

Abstract

We study the mass scales in the $SO(10)$ grand unified theory based on the following minimal Higgs representation content: adjoint $45_{\rm H}$, spinor $16_{\rm H}$ and complex vector $10_{\rm H}$, with higher dimensional operators on top of renormalizable interactions. We show that the consistency of the theory requires scalar $W$ and $Z$, scalar quark doublet and scalar gluon to lie below $ 10\, \rm TeV$ energy and potentially accessible even at the LHC. These signatures are intimately connected with the prediction of proton lifetime below $10^{35} {\rm yr}$, to be probed in the new generation of proton decay experiments.