Grand unification through gravitational effects

Abstract

We systematically study the unification of gauge couplings in the presence of (one or more) effective dimension-5 operators cHGG/4MPl, induced into the grand unified theory by gravitational interactions at the Planck scale MPl. These operators alter the usual condition for gauge coupling unification, which can, depending on the Higgs content H and vacuum expectation value, result in unification at scales MX significantly different than naively expected. We find non-supersymmetric models of SU(5) and SO(10) unification, with natural Wilson coefficients c, that easily satisfy the constraints from proton decay. Furthermore, gauge coupling unification at scales as high as the Planck scale seems feasible, possibly hinting at simultaneous unification of gauge and gravitational interactions. In the Appendix we work out the group theoretical aspects of this scenario for SU(5) and SO(10) unified groups in detail; this material is also relevant in the analysis of non-universal gaugino masses obtained from supergravity.

27 pages, 5 figures, 8 tables, 1 appendix, revtex; v2: introduction and conclusion expanded, references added, minor changes, version published in PRD

References in corpus (4)

• Non-universal gaugino masses from non-singlet F-terms in non-minimal unified models
• Quantum gravity at a TeV and the renormalization of Newton's constant
• Grand unification and enhanced quantum gravitational effects
• Planck Scale Unification in a Supersymmetric Standard Model

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