Proton Decay and Neutrino Masses in SO(10)

Abstract

In the last few years physicists have been looking at $SO(10)$ GUT models with renewed attention because it has been realized that the SU(5) minimal model cannot unify the strong, electromagnetic and weak interactions in a way consistent with the experimental values of $α(M_Z)$, $\si$ and $α_S(M_Z)$. In this paper we derive lower limits on neutrino masses, relevant for cosmology and for the solar-neutrino problem, from necessary consistency conditions on a class of $SO(10)$ models with $\sq$ or $\stt$ intermediate gauge symmetry.

33 pages, DSF-93/52, MIT-CTP-2286, LaTex, (2 figures not included)