Desert (particle physics)

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In particle physics, the desert refers to a theorized gap in energy scales between the TeV scale and the GUT scale in which no new physics appears. The idea of the desert was motivated by the observation of successful gauge coupling unification with just the minimal supersymmetric standard model particle content: adding additional new physics at an intermediate scale generically screws up the gauge coupling unification.

If neutrino masses are due to a seesaw mechanism, the seesaw scale should lie within the desert.

The attraction of a desert is that, in such a scenario, measurements of TeV scale physics at the near-future colliders LHC and ILC will allow extrapolation all the way up to the GUT scale. An alternative to a desert is a series of new physical theories unfolding with every few orders of magnitude increase in energy scale.