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Title: Do the SM gauge forces unify into a single group?
Plain: The strengths of the three forces change with energy and nearly meet near $1e16\, \mathrm{GeV}$. Whether they truly become one force is unknown.
Precise: Determine whether SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1) embeds in a simple group ($\mathrm{SU}(5), \mathrm{SO}(10), \mathrm{E6}$) broken near $M_{\mathrm{GUT}} \sim 1e15\ \text{to}\ 1e16\,\mathrm{GeV}$. In the SM the three couplings do not meet at a point; in the MSSM they meet at $\sim 2e16\,\mathrm{GeV}$. An answer is an observation of a unification-specific effect such as proton decay with a branching pattern fixed by the group.
Settled by: Detection of proton decay in one or more channels with branching ratios matching a specific GUT.
Kind: well-posed
Answer type: yes-no
References: (empty)
Literature status: open
Status note: (empty)
Posed since: 1974