These course-tested lectures provide a technical introduction to Supersymmetric Grand Unified Theories (SUSY GUTs), as well as a personal view on the topic by one of the pioneers in the field. While the Standard Model of Particle Physics is incredibly successful in describing the known universe it is, nevertheless, an incomplete theory with many free parameters and open issues. An elegant solution to all of these quandaries is the proposed theory of SUSY GUTs. In a GUT, quarks and leptons are related in a simple way by the unifying symmetry and their electric charges are quantized, further the relative strength of the strong, weak and electromagnetic forces are predicted. SUSY GUTs additionally provide a framework for understanding particle masses and offer candidates for dark matter. Finally, with the extension of SUSY GUTs to string theory, a quantum-mechanically consistent unification of the four known forces (including gravity) is obtained. The book is organized in three sections: the first section contains a brief introduction to the Standard Model, supersymmetry and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. Then SUSY GUTs in four space-time dimensions are introduced and reviewed. In addition, the cosmological issues concerning SUSY GUTs are discussed. Then the requirements for embedding a 4D SUSY GUT into higher-dimensional theories including gravity (i.e. String Theory) are investigated. Accordingly, section two of the course is devoted to discussing the so-called Orbifold GUTs and how in turn they solve some of the technical problems of 4D SUSY GUTs. Orbifold GUTs introduce a new set of open issues, which are then resolved in the third section in which it is shown how to embed Orbifold GUTs into the E(8) x E(8) Heterotic String in 10 space-time dimensions.

ABSTRACT: Simple SUSY GUT models based on the gauge group SO(10) require t - b - τ Yukawa coupling unification, in addition to gauge coupling and matter unification. The Yukawa coupling unification places a severe constraint on the expected spectrum of superpartners, with scalar masses ~ 10 TeV while gaugino masses are quite light. For Yukawa-unified models with μ> 0, the spectrum is characterized by three mass scales: i). first and second generation scalars in the multi-TeV range, ii). third generation scalars, μ and mA in the few-TeV range and iii). gluinos in the ~ 350-500 GeV range with chargino masses around 100-160 GeV. In such a scenario, gluino pair production should occur at large rates at the CERN LHC, followed by gluino three-body decays into neutralinos or charginos.

These course-tested lectures provide a technical introduction to Supersymmetric Grand Unified Theories (SUSY GUTs), as well as a personal view on the topic by one of the pioneers in the field. While the Standard Model of Particle Physics is incredibly successful in describing the known universe it is, nevertheless, an incomplete theory with many free parameters and open issues. An elegant solution to all of these quandaries is the proposed theory of SUSY GUTs. In a GUT, quarks and leptons are related in a simple way by the unifying symmetry and their electric charges are quantized, further the relative strength of the strong, weak and electromagnetic forces are predicted. SUSY GUTs additionally provide a framework for understanding particle masses and offer candidates for dark matter. Finally, with the extension of SUSY GUTs to string theory, a quantum-mechanically consistent unification of the four known forces (including gravity) is obtained. The book is organized in three sections: the first section contains a brief introduction to the Standard Model, supersymmetry and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. Then SUSY GUTs in four space-time dimensions are introduced and reviewed. In addition, the cosmological issues concerning SUSY GUTs are discussed. Then the requirements for embedding a 4D SUSY GUT into higher-dimensional theories including gravity (i.e. String Theory) are investigated. Accordingly, section two of the course is devoted to discussing the so-called Orbifold GUTs and how in turn they solve some of the technical problems of 4D SUSY GUTs. Orbifold GUTs introduce a new set of open issues, which are then resolved in the third section in which it is shown how to embed Orbifold GUTs into the E(8) x E(8) Heterotic String in 10 space-time dimensions.

The theoretical understanding of elementary particle interactions has under gone a revolutionary change during the past one and a half decades. The spontaneously broken gauge theories, which in the 1970s emerged as a prime candidate for the description of electro-weak (as weIl as strong) interactions, have been confirmed by the discovery of neutral weak currents as weIl as the w- and Z-bosons. We now have a field theory of electro-weak interactions at energy scales below 100 GeV-the Glashow-Weinberg-Salam theory. It is a renormalizable theory which enables us to do calculations without en countering unnecessary divergences. The burning question now is: Wh at lies ahead at the next level of unification? As we head into the era of supercolliders and ultrahigh energy machines to answer this question, many ap, pealing possi bilities exist: left-right symmetry, technicolor, compositeness, grand unifica ti on, supersymmetry, supergravity, Kaluza-Klein models, and most recently superstrings that even unify gravity along with other interactions. Experi ments will decide if any one or any combination of these is to be relevant in the description of physics at the higher energies. As an outcome of our con fidence in the possible scenerios for elementary particle physics, we have seen our understanding of the early uni verse improve significantly.

Grand Unification in particle physics is appealing for merging three of the four elementary forces into one at very high energies. Besides the corresponding unification of gauge couplings, Grand Unified Theories predict unified Yukawa couplings of quarks and leptons to a Higgs boson. Yukawa unification has been tested by measuring the fermion masses at today's particle colliders and found to hold for heavy, but to fail for light fermions. This work is a study of corrections to Yukawa unification from higher-dimensional operators in a supersymmetric model with SO(10) gauge symmetry. Due to the unification of down quarks and leptons the large flavour mixing measured in neutrino oscillations induces large flavour-changing neutral currents among down-type quarks. The resulting effects in kaon physics observables strongly constrain the flavour structure of Yukawa corrections.

The recent high precision results from the LEP supercollider at CERN appear favorable for supergravity unification of the electroweak and the strong forces. The proceedings of the SUSY 93 Workshop focus on further precise predictions of unification which may be observed in the laboratory. In addition, the proceedings cover a wide range of other topics in supersymmetry, supergravity, particle physics, string theory and cosmology and their interconnections. They include both theoretical and experimental papers, hence presenting a complete and comprehensive picture of this important subject.