UC Irvine

We discuss settings that predict precision gauge unification in the minimal supersymmetric standard model. We show that, if one requires anomaly freedom and fermion masses while demanding that unification is not an accident, only R symmetries can forbid the supersymmetric Higgs mass term μ. We then review the proof that R symmetries are not available in conventional grand unified theories (GUTs) and argue that this prevents natural solutions to the doublet-triplet splitting problem in four dimensions. On the other hand, higher-dimensional GUTs do not suffer from this problem. We briefly comment on an explicit string-derived model in which the μ and dimension five proton decay problems are solved by an order four discrete R symmetry, and comment on the higher-dimensional origin of this symmetry. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.