Nucleon Decay as a Probe of Flavor Symmetry: The Case of Fake Unification

TL;DR

This paper investigates how nucleon decay can reveal the flavor symmetry structure in a fake GUT framework with the Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism, offering a new way to distinguish it from traditional GUTs.

Contribution

It introduces a fake GUT model combined with flavor symmetry, showing how nucleon decay patterns can probe flavor structures without requiring force unification.

Findings

Nucleon decay rates are sensitive to flavor symmetry in the model.

Branching fractions vary with flavor symmetry, providing experimental signatures.

The model offers a new perspective on baryon number violation and flavor physics.

Abstract

This paper explores nucleon decay within the framework of a "fake Grand Unified Theory (GUT)" combined with the Froggatt-Nielsen (FN) mechanism. In this fake GUT framework, quarks and leptons may have distinct high-energy origins but fit into complete $\mathrm{SU}(5)$ multiplets at low energies without requiring force unification, setting it apart from conventional GUTs. By introducing flavor symmetry through the FN mechanism, the model addresses the flavor puzzle of quark and lepton mass hierarchies and mixing patterns. Our analysis demonstrates that nucleon decay rates and branching fractions in the fake GUT are sensitive to flavor symmetry, providing a means to distinguish it from conventional GUT predictions. These findings underscore the importance of nucleon decay searches in probing both baryon number violation and the underlying flavor structure.