In physics, the Pati–Salam model is a Grand Unified Theory (GUT) proposed in 1974 by Abdus Salam and Jogesh Pati. Like other GUTs, its goal is to explain the seeming arbitrariness and complexity of the Standard Model in terms of a simpler, more fundamental theory that unifies what are in the Standard Model disparate particles and forces. The Pati–Salam unification is based on there being four quark color charges, dubbed red, green, blue and violet (or originally lilac), instead of the conventional three, with the new "violet" quark being identified with the leptons. The model also has left–right symmetry and predicts the existence of a high energy right handed weak interaction with heavy W' and Z' bosons and right-handed neutrinos.
Originally the fourth color was labelled "lilac" to alliterate with "lepton". Pati–Salam is an alternative to the Georgi–Glashow unification also proposed in 1974. Both can be embedded within an unification model.
The Pati–Salam model states that the gauge group is either or and the fermions form three families, each consisting of the representations and . This needs some explanation. The center of is . The in the quotient refers to the two element subgroup generated by the element of the center corresponding to the two element of and the 1 elements of and . This includes the right-handed neutrino. See neutrino oscillations. There is also a and/or a scalar field called the Higgs field which acquires a non-zero VEV. This results in a spontaneous symmetry breaking from to or from to and also,
See restricted representation. Of course, calling the representations things like and is purely a physicist's convention(source?), not a mathematician's convention, where representations are either labelled by Young tableaux or Dynkin diagrams with numbers on their vertices, but still, it is standard among GUT theorists.
The weak hypercharge, Y, is the sum of the two matrices:
| \begin{pmatrix} | 1 | &0&0&0\\0& |
| 3 |
| 1 | &0&0\\0&0& | |
| 3 |
| 1 | |
| 3 |
&0\\0&0&0&-1\end{pmatrix}\inSU(4), \begin{pmatrix}1&0\\0&-1\end{pmatrix}\inSU(2)R
\left([SU(4) x SU(2)L x SU(2)R]/Z2\right)\rtimesZ2
Since the homotopy group
| \pi | ||||
|
\right)=Z,
this model predicts monopoles. See 't Hooft–Polyakov monopole.
This model was invented by Jogesh Pati and Abdus Salam.
This model doesn't predict gauge mediated proton decay (unless it is embedded within an even larger GUT group).
As mentioned above, both the Pati–Salam and Georgi–Glashow unification models can be embedded in a unification. The difference between the two models then lies in the way that the symmetry is broken, generating different particles that may or may not be important at low scales and accessible by current experiments. If we look at the individual models, the most important difference is in the origin of the weak hypercharge. In the model by itself there is no left-right symmetry (although there could be one in a larger unification in which the model is embedded), and the weak hypercharge is treated separately from the color charge. In the Pati–Salam model, part of the weak hypercharge (often called) starts being unified with the color charge in the group, while the other part of the weak hypercharge is in the . When those two groups break then the two parts together eventually unify into the usual weak hypercharge .
The superspace extension of Minkowski spacetime
N=1 SUSY over Minkowski spacetime with R-symmetry
Those associated with the gauge symmetry
As complex representations:
| label | description | multiplicity | rep | R | A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GUT Higgs field | |||||
| GUT Higgs field | |||||
| singlet | |||||
| electroweak Higgs field | |||||
| no name | |||||
| left handed matter field | |||||
| right handed matter field including right handed (sterile or heavy) neutrinos | |||||
A generic invariant renormalizable superpotential is a (complex) and invariant cubic polynomial in the superfields. It is a linear combination of the following terms:
\begin{matrix} S\\ S(4,1,2)H(\bar{4},1,2)H\\ S(1,2,2)H(1,2,2)H\\ (6,1,1)H(4,1,2)H(4,1,2)H\\ (6,1,1)H(\bar{4},1,2)H(\bar{4},1,2)H\\ (1,2,2)H(4,2,1)i(\bar{4},1,2)j\\ (4,1,2)H(\bar{4},1,2)i\phij\\ \end{matrix}
i
j
We can extend this model to include left-right symmetry. For that, we need the additional chiral multiplets and .