Past exam of the groups and representations course of the University of Oxford / 2024 / 4 / e

Among the representations in c, the $10$ of $SU(5)$ occurs in the $15$ of $SU(6)$, while the simplest source of $\bar{5}$ is $\bar{6}$. Thus the economical direct sum containing the prescribed family isThe extra $SU(5)$ multiplets are one $5$ and one trivial representation. Calling $R$ a representation does not require it to be an irreducible representation; none of the five individual choices in c contains both required $SU(5)$ summands.

There is a further physical qualification if this is to be the entire chiral matter content of a consistent grand unified theory. Merely containing one Standard Model family does not guarantee cancellation of the cubic $SU(6)$ gauge anomaly. In the convention $A(6)=1$, one has $A(\bar{6})=-1$ and $A(15)=2$, so the displayed sum has $A(R)=1$. With these types of representations, the minimal anomaly-free completion is insteadBeyond one family this adds a vectorlike gauge spectrum $5\oplus \bar{5}$ and two trivial representations. The conjugate pair can receive a mass after the appropriate symmetry breaking, without removing the remaining family.^[ref] The first boxed answer addresses representation containment; the second includes the extra consistency condition for a chiral gauge theory.