Past exam of the groups and representations course of the University of Oxford 2020 3 e Solution 2026-10-25
The commuting direction in solution provides the correct candidate Lie algebra for a gauge group, . This is a necessary structural condition for the Standard Model, but it does not by itself establish a viable grand unified theory.
The representations in solution do not give a Standard Model fermion generation with the correct weak hypercharges. Use . Identifying with the left-handed quark doublet, whose weak hypercharge is , fixes . But then the doublet in has , whereas the left-handed lepton doublet requires . Its singlet has , whereas a right-handed electron requires . The is a further concrete mismatch: right-handed quarks written as left-handed antiquarks require or , and a rescaling cannot turn zero into either value. These comparisons use the electroweak representation and hypercharge table.
The charge- doublet in does have the required lepton weak hypercharge under this normalization, but the same Adjoint representation also brings a doublet of the opposite charge and an extra triplet. Therefore merely adding that representation does not supply the missing chiral generation without additional states and a mechanism for their masses.
Furthermore is a product of two Simple Lie groups, permitting two independent gauge couplings; it does not enforce a common strong and electroweak gauge coupling. Thus the embedding exists, but the displayed matter content does not furnish a viable minimal unification of the Standard Model. A more elaborate model would require additional representations, consistent chiral matter, anomaly cancellation, and a specified spontaneous symmetry breaking mechanism. The calculations here do not prove that every possible extension using this product group is impossible.