LOW ALPHA(STRONG)(M(Z)), INTERMEDIATE SCALE SUSY SO(10) AND ITS IMPLICATIONS

We show that one of the ways of obtaining consistency between the idea of supersymmetric grand unification and an apparent low value of alph a(strong)(M(z)) similar or equal to .11 indicated by several low energ y experiments is to have an intermediate scale corresponding to a loca l B - L symmetry breaking around the mass scale of 10(10) to 10(12) Ge V. We discuss the realization of this idea within the framework of sup ersymmetric SO(10) grand unified theories with spectra of particles de rivable from simple superstring-inspired versions of this model. We th en study the b - tau mass unification within this class of models and show that due to the influence of new gauge and Yukawa interactions be yond the intermediate scale, the prediction of the b-quark mass comes out well within the presently accepted values. We also discuss an unor thodox class of SUSY models, inspired by some theoretical consideratio ns, having two pairs of Higgs doublets at low energy and show that the y also can lead to unification with intermediate scales and low alpha( s)(M(z)) as desired.