Flavor Symmetry L_mu - L_tau and quasi-degenerate Neutrinos

Current data implies three simple forms of the neutrino mass matrix, each corresponding to the conservation of a non-standard lepton charge. While models based on L_e and L_e - L_mu - L_tau are well-known, little attention has been paid to L_mu - L_tau. A low energy mass matrix conserving L_mu - L_tau implies quasi-degenerate light neutrinos. Moreover, it is mu-tau symmetric and therefore (in contrast to L_e and L_e - L_mu - L_tau) automatically predicts maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing and zero U_{e3}. A see-saw model based on L_mu - L_tau is investigated and testable predictions for the neutrino mixing observables are given. Renormalization group running below and in between the see-saw scales is taken into account in our analysis, both numerically and analytically.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures. Prepared for 5th International Conference on Nonaccelerator New Physics (NANP 05), Dubna, Russia, 20-25 Jun 200

Flavor Symmetry L_e - L_mu - L_tau, Atmospheric Neutrino Mixing and CP Violation in the Lepton Sector

The PMNS neutrino mixing matrix is given, in general, by the product of two unitary matrices associated with the diagonalization of the charged lepton and neutrino mass matrices, respectively. Assuming that the active flavor neutrinos possess a Majorana mass matrix which is diagonalized by a bimaximal mixing matrix, we give the allowed forms of the charged lepton mixing matrix and the corresponding implied forms of the charged lepton mass matrix. We further assume that the origin of bimaximal mixing is a weakly broken flavor symmetry of the neutrino Majorana mass matrix, corresponding to the conservation of the non-standard lepton charge L' = L_e - L_mu - L_tau. The latter does not predict, in general, the atmospheric neutrino mixing to be maximal. We study the impact of this fact on the allowed forms of the charged lepton mixing matrix and on the neutrino mixing observables, analyzing the case of CP nonconservation in detail. We find, in particular, that the allowed ranges of U_{e3} and of the atmospheric neutrino mixing angle are typically larger when one assumes L' conservation than in the case of exact initial bimaximal mixing. The atmospheric neutrino mixing can take any value inside its currently allowed range, while |U_{e3}|^2 can be as small as 0.007. We discuss under which conditions the atmospheric neutrino mixing angle can be larger or smaller than pi/4. We present also a simple see-saw realization of the implied light neutrino Majorana mass matrix and consider leptogenesis in this scenario.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figures. Comments and references added, to appear in PR

More on deviation from bi-maximal neutrino mixing

We study the case of $U^T_l$ presenting the exact bi-maximal mixing form with $U_\nu$ inducing the deviation from the bi-maximal mixing in the final form of the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata neutrino mixing, $U_{PMNS}=U^T_l U_\nu$. We will show that such possibility will lead to a democratic texture for the charged lepton mass matrix and to a neutrino mass matrix with four null entries.Comment: a scenario realizing our proposal is added, new references added, to be published in J.Phys.

The mu - e Conversion in Nuclei, mu --> e gamma, mu --> 3e Decays and TeV Scale See-Saw Scenarios of Neutrino Mass Generation

We perform a detailed analysis of lepton flavour violation (LFV) within minimal see-saw type extensions of the Standard Model (SM), which give a viable mechanism of neutrino mass generation and provide new particle content at the electroweak scale. We focus, mainly, on predictions and constraints set on each scenario from mu --> e gamma, mu --> 3e and mu - e conversion in the nuclei. In this class of models, the flavour structure of the Yukawa couplings between the additional scalar and fermion representations and the SM leptons is highly constrained by neutrino oscillation measurements. In particular, we show that in some regions of the parameters space of type I and type II see-saw models, the Dirac and Majorana phases of the neutrino mixing matrix, the ordering and hierarchy of the active neutrino mass spectrum as well as the value of the reactor mixing angle theta_{13} may considerably affect the size of the LFV observables. The interplay of the latter clearly allows to discriminate among the different low energy see-saw possibilities.Comment: Expressions for the factors |C_{me}|^2 and |C_{mu3e}|^2 in the mu-e conversion and mu-->3e decay rates, eqs. (36) and (49), respectively, corrected; results in subsections 2.2 and 2.3 quantitatively changed, qualitatively remain the same; figures 2, 3, 4 and 5 replace

Models of Neutrino Masses and Mixings

We review theoretical ideas, problems and implications of neutrino masses and mixing angles. We give a general discussion of schemes with three light neutrinos. Several specific examples are analyzed in some detail, particularly those that can be embedded into grand unified theories.Comment: 44 pages, 2 figures, version accepted for publication on the Focus Issue on 'Neutrino Physics' edited by F.Halzen, M.Lindner and A. Suzuki, to be published in New Journal of Physics

Discrete Flavour Groups, \theta_13 and Lepton Flavour Violation

Discrete flavour groups have been studied in connection with special patterns of neutrino mixing suggested by the data, such as Tri-Bimaximal mixing (groups A4, S4...) or Bi-Maximal mixing (group S4...) etc. We review the predictions for sin(\theta_13) in a number of these models and confront them with the experimental measurements. We compare the performances of the different classes of models in this respect. We then consider, in a supersymmetric framework, the important implications of these flavour symmetries on lepton flavour violating processes, like \mu -> e gamma and similar processes. We discuss how the existing limits constrain these models, once their parameters are adjusted so as to optimize the agreement with the measured values of the mixing angles. In the simplified CMSSM context, adopted here just for indicative purposes, the small tan(beta) range and heavy SUSY mass scales are favoured by lepton flavour violating processes, which makes it even more difficult to reproduce the reported muon g-2 discrepancy.Comment: 45 pages, 16 figures, 3 tables; V3 submitted to add an acknowledgment to a Networ