Theoretical Uncertainties in Proton Lifetime Estimates

Abstract

We recapitulate the primary sources of theoretical uncertainties in proton lifetime estimates in renormalizable, four-dimensional and non-supersymmetric grand unifications that represent the most conservative framework in which this question may be addressed at the perturbative level. We point out that many of these uncertainties are so severe that there are only very few scenarios in which an NLO approach, as crucial as it is for a real testability of any specific model, is actually sensible. Among these, the most promising seems to be the minimal renormalizable SO(10) GUT whose high-energy gauge symmetry is spontaneously broken by the adjoint and the five-index antisymmetric irreducible representations.

6 pages, 1 figure, prepared for the proceedings of the CETUP* 2015 program (Neutrinos and Beyond Standard Model Physics session: July 6 - July 17, 2015), Lead, South Dakota

References in corpus (7)

• Fermion Masses in SO(10) Models
• Fits to SO(10) Grand Unified Models
• Search for Nucleon Decay into Charged Anti-lepton plus Meson in Super-Kamiokande I and II
• Proton decay matrix elements on the lattice
• Light color octet scalars in the minimal SO(10) grand unification
• Grand unification and enhanced quantum gravitational effects
• Proton lifetime in the minimal SO(10) GUT and its implications for the LHC