Threshold Effects in SO(10) Grandunified Models and Solar Neutrino Puzzle

Abstract

We compute the threshold uncertainties due to unknown masses of the Higgs bosons on the predictions for the intermediate and unification scales, $M_I$ and $M_U$ respectively in SO(10) models.We focus on models with separate breaking scales for Parity and $SU(2)_R$ symmetries since they provide a natural realization of the see-saw mechanism for neutrino masses. For the two step symmetry breaking chains ,where left-right symmetric gauge groups appear at the intermediate scale, we find that parity invariance of the theory at the unification scale drastically reduces the GUT threshold effects in some cases. Including the effects of the intermediate scale thresholds ,we compute the uncertainty in the above mass scales and study their implications for proton lifetime and neutrino masses. An important outcome of our analysis is that if the currently favored nonadiabatic MSW solution to the solar neutrino puzzle is accepted , it will rule out the $SU(2)_LXSU(2)_RXU(1)_{B-L}X SU(3)_c$ as an intermediate symmetry for SO(10) breaking whereas the intermediate symmetry $SU(2)_LXSU(2)_RXSU(4)_c$, is quite consistent with it.