Five-dimensional trinification improved

Abstract

We present improved models of trinification in five dimensions. Unified symmetry is broken by a combination of orbifold projections and a boundary Higgs sector. The latter can be decoupled from the theory, realizing a Higgsless limit in which the scale of exotic massive gauge fields is set by the compactification radius. Electroweak Higgs doublets are identified with the fifth components of gauge fields and Yukawa interactions arise via Wilson loops. The result is a simple low-energy effective theory that is consistent with the constraints from proton decay and gauge unification.