In particle physics, SO(10) refers to a grand unified theory (GUT) based on the spin group Spin(10). The shortened name SO(10) is conventional[1] among physicists, and derives from the Lie algebra or less precisely the Lie group of SO(10), which is a special orthogonal group that is double covered by Spin(10).
SO(10) subsumes the Georgi–Glashow and Pati–Salam models, and unifies all fermions in a generation into a single field. This requires 12 new gauge bosons, in addition to the 12 of SU(5) and 9 of SU(4)×SU(2)×SU(2).