Calculable inverse-seesaw neutrino masses in supersymmetry

We provide a scenario where naturally small and calculable neutrino masses arise from a supersymmetry breaking renormalization-group-induced vacuum expectation value. We adopt a minimal supergravity scenario without ad hoc supersymmetric mass parameters. The lightest supersymmetric particle can be an isosinglet scalar neutrino state, potentially viable as WIMP dark matter through its Higgs new boson coupling. The scenario leads to a plethora of new phenomenological implications at accelerators including the Large Hadron Collider.Comment: LaTeX, 5 pages, 4 figures. Comments and references added. Final version to appear in PR

A Supersymmetric D4 Model for mu-tau Symmetry

We construct a supersymmeterized version of the model presented by Grimus and Lavoura (GL) in [1] which predicts theta_{23} maximal and theta_{13}=0 in the lepton sector. For this purpose, we extend the flavor group, which is D4 x Z2^{(aux)} in the original model, to D4 x Z5. An additional difference is the absence of right-handed neutrinos. Despite these changes the model is the same as the GL model, since theta_{23} maximal and theta_{13}=0 arise through the same mismatch of D4 subgroups, D2 in the charged lepton and Z2 in the neutrino sector. In our setup D4 is solely broken by gauge singlets, the flavons. We show that their vacuum structure, which leads to the prediction of theta_{13} and theta_{23}, is a natural result of the scalar potential. We find that the neutrino mass matrix only allows for inverted hierarchy, if we assume a certain form of spontaneous CP violation. The quantity |m_{ee}|, measured in neutrinoless double beta decay, is nearly equal to the lightest neutrino mass m3. The Majorana phases phi1 and phi2 are restricted to a certain range for m3 < 0.06 eV. We discuss the next-to-leading order corrections which give rise to shifts in the vacuum expectation values of the flavons. These induce deviations from maximal atmospheric mixing and vanishing theta_{13}. It turns out that these deviations are smaller for theta_{23} than for theta_{13}.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure

A heavy Higgs boson from flavor and electroweak symmetry breaking unification

We present a unified picture of flavor and electroweak symmetry breaking based on a nonlinear sigma model spontaneously broken at the TeV scale. Flavor and Higgs bosons arise as pseudo-Goldstone modes. Explicit collective symmetry breaking yields stable vacuum expectation values and masses protected at one loop by the little-Higgs mechanism. The coupling to the fermions generates well-definite mass textures--according to a U(1) global flavor symmetry--that correctly reproduce the mass hierarchies and mixings of quarks and leptons. The model is more constrained than usual little-Higgs models because of bounds on weak and flavor physics. The main experimental signatures testable at the LHC are a rather large mass m_{h^0} = 317\pm 80 GeV for the (lightest) Higgs boson and a characteristic spectrum of new bosons and fermions at the TeV scale.Comment: 5 page

Minimal supergravity sneutrino dark matter and inverse seesaw neutrino masses

We show that within the inverse seesaw mechanism for generating neutrino masses minimal supergravity is more likely to have a sneutrino as the lightest superparticle than the conventional neutralino. We also demonstrate that such schemes naturally reconcile the small neutrino masses with the correct relic sneutrino dark matter abundance and accessible direct detection rates in nuclear recoil experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Genetic variability of Haemonchus contortus (Nematoda: Trichostrongyloidea) in alpine ruminant host species

Genetic variability of the ovine parasite Haemonchus contortus from the Alpine area was investigated using mitochondrial DNA (nd4 gene), internal transcribed spacers 1 and 2 and microsatellites, in order to assess whether cross-transmission between domestic and wild ruminants occurs. The dataset was composed of 78 individual adult male H. contortus collected from chamois (Rupicapra r. rupicapra), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), alpine ibex (Capra ibex ibex), domestic goat (Capra hircus) and sheep (Ovis aries) from different alpine areas. The data obtained show low host specificity and high genetic variation within H. contortus populations. The analyses indicate the presence of two mitochondrial haplotype clusters among host species and the absence of cryptic parasite species, confirming H. contortus as a generalist nematode and suggesting that parasite transmission between populations of domestic and wild ruminants normally occurs

Strong coupling, discrete symmetry and flavour

We show how two principles - strong coupling and discrete symmetry - can work together to generate the flavour structure of the Standard Model. We propose that in the UV the full theory has a discrete flavour symmetry, typically only associated with tribimaximal mixing in the neutrino sector. Hierarchies in the particle masses and mixing matrices then emerge from multiple strongly coupled sectors that break this symmetry. This allows for a realistic flavour structure, even in models built around an underlying grand unified theory. We use two different techniques to understand the strongly coupled physics: confinement in N=1 supersymmetry and the AdS/CFT correspondence. Both approaches yield equivalent results and can be represented in a clear, graphical way where the flavour symmetry is realised geometrically.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figures, updated references and figure

A Simplest A4 Model for Tri-Bimaximal Neutrino Mixing

We present a see-saw $A_4$ model for Tri-Bimaximal mixing which is based on a very economical flavour symmetry and field content and still possesses all the good features of $A_4$ models. In particular the charged lepton mass hierarchies are determined by the $A_4\times Z_4$ flavour symmetry itself without invoking a Froggatt-Nielsen U(1) symmetry. Tri-Bimaximal mixing is exact in leading order while all the mixing angles receive corrections of the same order in next-to-the-leading approximation. As a consequence the predicted value of $\theta_{13}$ is within the sensitivity of the experiments which will take data in the near future. The light neutrino spectrum, typical of $A_4$ see-saw models, with its phenomenological implications, also including leptoproduction, is studied in detail.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figure

Non-Abelian Discrete Flavor Symmetries from T^2/Z_N Orbifolds

In [1] it was shown how the flavor symmetry A4 (or S4) can arise if the three fermion generations are taken to live on the fixed points of a specific 2-dimensional orbifold. The flavor symmetry is a remnant of the 6-dimensional Poincare symmetry, after it is broken down to the 4-dimensional Poincare symmetry through compactification via orbifolding. This raises the question if there are further non-abelian discrete symmetries that can arise in a similar setup. To this end, we generalize the discussion by considering all possible 2-dimensional orbifolds and the flavor symmetries that arise from them. The symmetries we obtain from these orbifolds are, in addition to S4 and A4, the groups D3, D4 and D6 \simeq D3 x Z2 which are all popular groups for flavored model building.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Vacuum Alignment in SUSY A4 Models

In this note we discuss the vacuum alignment in supersymmetric models with spontaneously broken flavour symmetries in the presence of soft supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking terms. We show that the inclusion of soft SUSY breaking terms can give rise to non-vanishing vacuum expectation values (VEVs) for the auxiliary components of the flavon fields. These non-zero VEVs can have an important impact on the phenomenology of this class of models, since they can induce an additional flavour violating contribution to the sfermion soft mass matrix of right-left (RL) type. We carry out an explicit computation in a class of SUSY A4 models predicting tri-bimaximal mixing in the lepton sector. The flavour symmetry breaking sector is described in terms of flavon and driving supermultiplets. We find non-vanishing VEVs for the auxiliary components of the flavon fields and for the scalar components of the driving fields which are of order m_{SUSY} x and m_{SUSY}, respectively. Thereby, m_{SUSY} is the generic soft SUSY breaking scale which is expected to be around 1 TeV and is the VEV of scalar components of the flavon fields. Another effect of these VEVs can be the generation of a mu term.Comment: 23 pages; added a new section on the relation to Supergravity; version accepted for publication in JHE