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Gravitational wave signals in a promising realization of SO(10) unification

Injun Jeong1,2, Jörn Kersten3,4, Stefano Scopel1,2, and Liliana Velasco-Sevilla1,2

  • 1Center for Quantum Spacetime, Sogang University, 35 Baekbeom-ro, Seoul 121-742, South Korea
  • 2Department of Physics, Sogang University, 35 Baekbeom-ro, Seoul 121-742, South Korea
  • 3Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Postboks 7803, 5020 Bergen, Norway
  • 4Department of Physics and IPAP, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seoul 03722, South Korea

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 075017 – Published 15 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/yxly-ft42

Abstract

We investigate gravitational wave signals in a nonsupersymmetric grand unified model where the group SO(10) is broken in two steps to the Standard Model gauge group. We calculate the analytical form of the one-loop effective potential responsible for the first step of symmetry breaking and show that it can lead to a first-order phase transition with gravitational wave production. We also determine the gravitational wave background produced by the primordial plasma of relativistic particles. The present experimental sensitivity is still far from the expected signals but could be in reach of novel detector concepts.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 075017– Published 15 April, 2026
  • Received 2 October 2025
  • Accepted 24 March 2026
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