ΔB=−ΔL, Neutron →e⁻π⁺, e⁻K⁺, μ⁻π⁺ and μ⁻K⁺ decay modes in SU(2)_L×SU(2)_R×SU(4)^col or SO(10)

Abstract

It is stressed that within the simplest model SU(4) of color, unifying quarks with leptons, where B --- L is a gauge symmetry, a spontaneous breaking of this symmetry leads naturally to baryon---lepton decays like n→e⁻k⁺, e⁻K⁺, μ⁻π⁺, μ⁻K⁺ [in constant to SU(5) where B --- L is not gauged]. Our mechanism is crucially tied to the presence of the Higgs multiplet (2, 2, 15) of SU(2)×SU(2)×SU(4), which is needed to account for the observed quark---lepton mass ratios.