A minimal model of neutrino flavor

• Published in: The journal of high energy physics 2012-12, Vol.2012 (12), Article 96
• Main Authors: Luhn, Christoph, Parattu, Krishna Mohan, Wingerter, Akın
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Classical and Quantum Gravitation; Clebsch-Gordan coefficients; Elementary Particles; Flavor (particle physics); High energy physics; High Energy Physics - Phenomenology; Leptons; Neutrinos; Operators; Phenomenology; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum Field Theories; Quantum Field Theory; Quantum Physics; Relativity Theory; String Theory; Symmetry
• ISSN: 1029-8479; 1126-6708; 1029-8479
• DOI: 10.1007/JHEP12(2012)096

A bstract Models of neutrino mass which attempt to describe the observed lepton mixing pattern are typically based on discrete family symmetries with a non-Abelian and one or more Abelian factors. The latter so-called shaping symmetries are imposed in order to yield a realistic phenomenology by forbidding unwanted operators. Here we propose a supersymmetric model of neutrino flavor which is based on the group T 7 and does not require extra N or U(1) factors in the Yukawa sector, which makes it the smallest realistic family symmetry that has been considered so far. At leading order, the model predicts tribimaximal mixing which arises completely accidentally from a combination of the T 7 Clebsch-Gordan coefficients and suitable flavon alignments. Next-to-leading order (NLO) operators break the simple tribimaximal structure and render the model compatible with the recent results of the Daya Bay and Reno collaborations which have measured a reactor angle of around 9°. Problematic NLO deviations of the other two mixing angles can be controlled in an ultraviolet completion of the model. The vacuum alignment mechanism that we use necessitates the introduction of a hidden flavon sector that transforms under a 6 symmetry, thereby spoiling the minimality of our model whose flavor symmetry is then T 7 × 6 .