GUTs, the SU(5) representation, proton decay

Particle Physics 3: Supersymmetry and Grand Unification (Spring, 2010)

Lecture Playlist

  1. Renormalization concepts, and dimensional analysis

  2. Fermions and bosons

  3. Propagators and renormalization of mass

  4. Symmetry and Grassmann numbers

  5. A first supersymmetric model

  6. Supersymmetry building blocks

  7. Lagrangians that preserve supersymmetry

  8. Generalizing supersymmetry to 3+1 spacetime, and QFT

  9. Supersymmetry breaking and an introduction to grand unified theories

  10. GUTs, the SU(5) representation, proton decay

June 7, 2010

The final lecture focuses on grand unified theories, and how their group structure connects to fermions (neutrinos, leptons and quarks) and the gauge bosons.

Topics: 
  • The group theory of SU(5)
  • Gauge bosons
  • The prediction of proton decay
  • Neutrinos have mass, so maybe SU(5) -> O(10)
  • Lower bounds on the mass of predicted X and Y bosons