Flavor Mixing and the Permutation Symmetry among Generations

In the standard model, the permutation symmetry among the three generations of fundamental fermions is usually regarded to be broken by the Higgs couplings. It is found that the symmetry is restored if we include the mass matrix parameters as physical variables which transform appropriately under the symmetry operation. Known relations between these variables, such as the renormalization group equations, as well as formulas for neutrino oscillations (in vacuum and in matter), are shown to be covariant tensor equations under the permutation symmetry group.Comment: 12 page

Topological Phases in Neuberger-Dirac operator

The response of the Neuberger-Dirac fermion operator D=\Id + V in the topologically nontrivial background gauge field depends on the negative mass parameter $m_0$ in the Wilson-Dirac fermion operator $D_w$ which enters $D$ through the unitary operator $V = D_w (D_w^{\dagger} D_w)^{-1/2}$. We classify the topological phases of $D$ by comparing its index to the topological charge of the smooth background gauge field. An exact discrete symmetry in the topological phase diagram is proved for any gauge configurations. A formula for the index of D in each topological phase is derived by obtaining the total chiral charge of the zero modes in the exact solution of the free fermion propagator.Comment: 27 pages, Latex, 3 figures, appendix A has been revise

Rephasing invariance and neutrino mixing

A rephasing invariant parametrization is introduced for three flavor neutrino mixing. For neutrino propagation in matter, these parameters are shown to obey evolution equations as functions of the induced neutrino mass. These equations are found to preserve (approximately) some characteristic features of the mixing matrix, resulting in solutions which exhibit striking patterns as the induced mass varies. The approximate solutions are compared to numerical integrations and found to be quite accurate.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

Renormalization of the Neutrino Mass Matrix

In terms of a rephasing invariant parametrization, the set of renormalization group equations (RGE) for Dirac neutrino parameters can be cast in a compact and simple form. These equations exhibit manifest symmetry under flavor permutations. We obtain both exact and approximate RGE invariants, in addition to some approximate solutions and examples of numerical solutions.Comment: 15 pages, 1figur

Properties of the Neutrino Mixing Matrix

For neutrino mixing we propose to use the parameter set $X_{i}$ $(=|V_{ei}|^{2})$ and $\Omega_{i}$ $(=\epsilon_{ijk}|V_{\mu j}|^{2}|V_{\tau k}|^{2})$, with two constraints. These parameters are directly measurable since the neutrino oscillation probabilities are quadratic functions of them. Physically, the set $\Omega_{i}$ signifies a quantitative measure of $\mu-\tau$ asymmetry. Available neutrino data indicate that all the $\Omega_{i}$'s are small $(\lesssim O(10^{-1}))$, but with large uncertainties. The behavior of $\Omega_{i}$ as functions of the induced neutrino mass in matter are found to be simple, which should facilitate the analyses of long baseline experiments.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

Rephasing invariance and the neutrino mu-tau symmetry

The vacuum neutrino mixing is known to exhibit an approximate $\mu-\tau$ symmetry, which was shown to be preserved for neutrino propagating in matter. This symmetry reduces the neutrino transition probabilities to very simple forms when expressed in a rephasing invariant parametrization introduced earlier. Applications to long baseline experiments are discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Signatures of the neutrino mass hierarchy in supernova neutrinos

The undetermined neutrino mass hierarchy may leave an observable imprint on the neutrino fluxes from a core-collapse supernova (SN). The interpretation of the observables, however, is subject to the uncertain SN models and the flavor conversion mechanism of neutrinos in a SN. We attempt to propose a qualitative interpretation of the expected neutrino events at terrestrial detectors, focusing on the accretion phase of the neutrino burst. The flavor conversions due to neutrino self-interaction, the MSW effect, and the Earth regeneration effect are incorporated in the calculation. It leads to several distinct scenarios that are identified by the neutrino mass hierarchies and the collective flavor transitions. Consequences resulting from the variation of incident angles and SN models are also discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure