Early image unification of quarks and leptons Original Research Article

We discuss various aspects of the early petite unification (PUT) of quarks and leptons based on the gauge group image. This unification takes place at the scale image and gives the correct value of image without the violation of the upper bound on the image rate and the limits on FCNC processes. These properties require the existence of three new generations of unconventional quarks and leptons with charges up to image (for quarks) and 2 (for leptons) and masses image in addition to the standard three generations of quarks and leptons. The horizontal group image connects the standard fermions with the unconventional ones. We work out the spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) of the gauge group image down to the SM gauge group, generalize the existing one-loop renormalization group (RG) analysis to the two-loop level including the contributions of Higgs scalars and Yukawa couplings, and demonstrate that the presence of three new generations of heavy unconventional quarks and leptons with masses image is consistent with astrophysical constraints. The NLO and Higgs contributions to the RG analysis are significant while the Yukawa contributions can be neglected.