A4A_4 Flavour Model for Dirac Neutrinos: Type I and Inverse Seesaw

We propose two different seesaw models namely, type I and inverse seesaw to realise light Dirac neutrinos within the framework of $A_4$ discrete flavour symmetry. The additional fields and their transformations under the flavour symmetries are chosen in such a way that naturally predicts the hierarchies of different elements of the seesaw mass matrices in these two types of seesaw mechanisms. For generic choices of flavon alignments, both the models predict normal hierarchical light neutrino masses with the atmospheric mixing angle in the lower octant. Apart from predicting interesting correlations between different neutrino parameters as well as between neutrino and model parameters, the model also predicts the leptonic Dirac CP phase to lie in a specific range -$\pi/3$ to $\pi/3$. While the type I seesaw model predicts smaller values of absolute neutrino mass, the inverse seesaw predictions for the absolute neutrino masses can saturate the cosmological upper bound on sum of absolute neutrino masses for certain choices of model parameters.Comment: 19 pages, 08 figures; matches published versio

Flavored Leptogenesis and Neutrino Mass with A4A_4 Symmetry

We propose a minimal $A_4$ flavor symmetric model, assisted by $Z_2 \times Z_3$ symmetry, which can naturally takes care of the appropriate lepton mixing and neutrino masses via Type-I seesaw. It turns out that the framework, originated due to a specific flavor structure, favors the normal hierarchy of light neutrinos and simultaneously narrows down the range of Dirac CP violating phase. It predicts an interesting correlation between the atmospheric mixing angle and the Dirac CP phase too. While the flavor structure indicates an exact degeneracy of the right handed neutrino masses, renormalization group running of the same from a high scale is shown to make it quasi-degenerate and a successful flavor leptogenesis takes place within the allowed parameter space obtained from neutrino phenomenology.Comment: 35 pages, 8 figure

Phenomenology of the flavor symmetric scoto-seesaw model with dark matter and TM1_1 mixing

We propose a hybrid scoto-seesaw model based on the $A_4$ non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetry. Light neutrino masses come from the tree-level type-I seesaw mechanism and from the one-loop scotogenic contribution accommodating viable dark matter candidates responsible for observed relic abundance of dark matter (DM). Respectively, both these contributions restore the atmospheric and solar neutrino mass scales. With only one right-handed neutrino, the model features specific predictions with the normal ordering of light neutrino masses, the lightest neutrino being massless, and only one relevant CP Majorana phase. The flavor symmetric setup helps us to realize the TM$_1$ mixing scheme with concrete correlations and constraints on the mixing angles and associated CP phases. The framework predicts the atmospheric mixing angle to be in the upper octant with specific ranges $0.531 (0.580) \leq \sin^2\theta_{23}\leq 0.544 (0.595)$ and the Dirac CP phase is restricted within the range $\pm(1.44-1.12)$ radian. The Majorana phase is also tightly constrained with a range of $0.82-0.95$ and $1.58-1.67$ radian, which is otherwise unconstrained from neutrino oscillations. Strict predictions on the Majorana phases also yield an accurate prediction for the effective mass parameter for neutrinoless double beta within the range of $1.61-3.85$ meV. The model offers a rich phenomenology regarding DM relic density and direct search constraints, and the fermionic DM scenario has been discussed in detail, estimating its possible connection with the neutrino sector. As an example of the model studies at colliders, the SM Higgs in the diphoton decay channel is examined. The model predicts strictly vanishing $\tau \to e\gamma$, $\tau \rightarrow 3e$ decays and testable signals by MEG-II and SINDRUM/Mu3e experiments for the $\mu \to e \gamma$ and $\mu \to 3 e$ decays, respectively.Comment: 42 pages, 16 figure

Optical Anisotropy of Electronic Excitations in Elliptical Quantum Dots

The authors report that anisotropic confining potentials in laterally-coupled semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have large impacts in optical transitions and energies of inter-shell collective electronic excitations. The observed anisotropies are revealed by inelastic light scattering as a function of the in-plane direction of light polarization and can be finely controlled by modifying the geometrical shape of the QDs. These experiments show that the tuning of the QD confinement potential offers a powerful method to manipulate electronic states and far-infrared inter-shell optical transitions in quantum dots.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure