A to Z of Flavour with Pati-Salam

We propose an elegant theory of flavour based on $A_4\times Z_5$ family symmetry with Pati-Salam unification which provides an excellent description of quark and lepton masses, mixing and CP violation. The $A_4$ symmetry unifies the left-handed families and its vacuum alignment determines the columns of Yukawa matrices. The $Z_5$ symmetry distinguishes the right-handed families and its breaking controls CP violation in both the quark and lepton sectors. The Pati-Salam symmetry relates the quark and lepton Yukawa matrices, with $Y^u=Y^{\nu}$ and $Y^d\sim Y^e$. Using the see-saw mechanism with very hierarchical right-handed neutrinos and CSD4 vacuum alignment, the model predicts the entire PMNS mixing matrix and gives a Cabibbo angle $\theta_C\approx 1/4$. In particular it predicts maximal atmospheric mixing, $\theta^l_{23}=45^\circ\pm 0.5^\circ$ and leptonic CP violating phase $\delta^l=260^\circ \pm 5^\circ$. The reactor angle prediction is $\theta^l_{13}=9^\circ\pm 0.5^\circ$, while the solar angle is $34^\circ \geq \theta^l_{12}\geq 31^\circ$, for a lightest neutrino mass in the range $0 \leq m_1 \leq 0.5$ meV, corresponding to a normal neutrino mass hierarchy and a very small rate for neutrinoless double beta decay.Comment: 38 pages, 28 figures, published versio

RK(∗)R_{K^{(*)}} and the origin of Yukawa couplings

We explore the possibility that the semi-leptonic $B$ decay ratios $R_{K^{(*)}}$ which violate $\mu - e$ universality are related to the origin of the fermion Yukawa couplings in the Standard Model. Some time ago, a vector-like fourth family (without a $Z'$) was used to generate fermion mass hierarchies and mixing patterns without introducing any family symmetry. Recently the idea of inducing flavourful $Z'$ couplings via mixing with a vector-like fourth family which carries gauged $U(1)'$ charges has been proposed as a simple way of producing controlled flavour universality violation while elegantly cancelling anomalies. We show that the fusion of these two ideas provides a nice connection between $R_{K^{(*)}}$ and the origin of Yukawa couplings in the quark sector. However the lepton sector requires some tuning of Yukawa couplings to obtain the desired coupling of $Z'$ to muons.Comment: Minor corrections to phenomenology section to match published version. 19 pages, 4 figure

Naturalness of scale-invariant NMSSMs with and without extra matter

We present a comparative and systematic study of the fine tuning in Higgs sectors in three scale-invariant NMSSM models: the first being the standard $Z_3$-invariant NMSSM; the second is the NMSSM plus additional matter filling $3(5+\bar{5})$ representations of SU(5) and is called the NMSSM+; while the third model comprises $4(5+\bar{5})$ and is called the NMSSM++. Naively, one would expect the fine tuning in the plus-type models to be smaller than that in the NMSSM since the presence of extra matter relaxes the perturbativity bound on $\lambda$ at the low scale. This, in turn, allows larger tree-level Higgs mass and smaller loop contribution from the stops. However we find that LHC limits on the masses of sparticles, especially the gluino mass, can play an indirect, but vital, role in controlling the fine tuning. In particular, working in a semi-constrained framework at the GUT scale, we find that the masses of third generation stops are always larger in the plus-type models than in the NMSSM without extra matter. This is an RGE effect which cannot be avoided, and as a consequence the fine tuning in the NMSSM+ ($\Delta \sim 200$) is significantly larger than in the NMSSM ($\Delta \sim 100$), with fine tuning in the NMSSM++ ($\Delta \sim 600$) being significantly larger than in the NMSSM+.Comment: 31 pages, 22 figures, published versio

NMSSM+

It is well known that the scale invariant NMSSM has lower fine-tuning than the MSSM, but suffers from the domain wall problem. We propose a new improved scale invariant version of the NMSSM, called the NMSSM+, which introduces extra matter in order to reduce even more the fine-tuning of the NMSSM. The NMSSM+ also provides a resolution of the domain wall problem of the NMSSM due to a discrete R-symmetry, which also stabilises the proton. The extra matter descends from an E6 gauge group and fills out three complete 27-dimensional representations at the TeV scale, as in the E6SSM. However the U(1)_N gauge group of the E6SSM is broken at a high energy scale leading to reduced fine-tuning. The extra matter of the NMSSM+ includes charge 1/3 colour triplet D-fermions which may be naturally heavier than the weak scale because they receive their mass from singlet field vacuum expectation values other than the one responsible for the weak scale effective {\mu} parameter.Comment: 25 pages, minor changes, references adde

Successful N2N_2 leptogenesis with flavour coupling effects in realistic unified models

In realistic unified models involving an $SO(10)$-like pattern of Dirac and heavy right-handed (RH) neutrino masses, the lightest right-handed neutrino $N_1$ is too light to yield successful thermal leptogenesis, barring highly fine tuned solutions, while the second heaviest right-handed neutrino $N_2$ is typically in the correct mass range. We show that flavour coupling effects in the Boltzmann equations may be crucial to the success of such $N_2$ dominated leptogenesis, by helping to ensure that the flavour asymmetries produced at the $N_2$ scale survive $N_1$ washout. To illustrate these effects we focus on $N_2$ dominated leptogenesis in an existing model, the A to Z of flavour with Pati-Salam, where the neutrino Dirac mass matrix may be equal to an up-type quark mass matrix and has a particular constrained structure. The numerical results, supported by analytical insight, show that in order to achieve successful $N_2$ leptogenesis, consistent with neutrino phenomenology, requires a "flavour swap scenario" together with a less hierarchical pattern of RH neutrino masses than naively expected, at the expense of some mild fine-tuning. These results may be relevant for other $SO(10)$-like unified models where $N_2$ leptogenesis is necessary.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figure; v2: typos corrected, Ref's added; v3: matches JCAP published versio

Generalised CP and Δ(96)\Delta (96) Family Symmetry

We perform a comprehensive study of the $\Delta (96)$ family symmetry combined with the generalised CP symmetry $H_{\rm{CP}}$. We investigate the lepton mixing parameters which can be obtained from the original symmetry $\Delta (96)\rtimes H_{\rm{CP}}$ breaking to different remnant symmetries in the neutrino and charged lepton sectors, namely $G_{\nu}$ and $G_l$ subgroups in the neutrino and the charged lepton sector respectively, and the remnant CP symmetries from the breaking of $H_{\rm{CP}}$ are $H^{\nu}_{\rm{CP}}$ and $H^{l}_{\rm{CP}}$, respectively, where all cases correspond to a preserved symmetry smaller than the full Klein symmetry, as in the semi-direct approach, leading to predictions which depend on a single undetermined real parameter, which may be fitted to the reactor angle for example. We discuss 26 possible cases, including a global $\chi^2$ determination of the best fit parameters and the correlations between mixing parameters, in each case.Comment: 71 pages, 10 figure

Effective theory of a doubly charged singlet scalar: complementarity of neutrino physics and the LHC

We consider a rather minimal extension of the Standard Model involving just one extra particle, namely a single $SU(2)_L$ singlet scalar $S^{++}$ and its antiparticle $S^{--}$. We propose a model independent effective operator, which yields an effective coupling of $S^{\pm \pm}$ to pairs of same sign weak gauge bosons, $W^{\pm} W^{\pm}$. We also allow tree-level couplings of $S^{\pm \pm}$ to pairs of same sign right-handed charged leptons $l^{\pm}_Rl'^{\pm}_R$ of the same or different flavour. We calculate explicitly the resulting two-loop diagrams in the effective theory responsible for neutrino mass and mixing. We propose sets of benchmark points for various $S^{\pm \pm}$ masses and couplings which can yield successful neutrino masses and mixing, consistent with limits on charged lepton flavour violation (LFV) and neutrinoless double beta decay. We discuss the prospects for $S^{\pm \pm}$ discovery at the LHC, for these benchmark points, including single and pair production and decay into same sign leptons plus jets and missing energy. The model represents a minimal example of the complementarity between neutrino physics (including LFV) and the LHC, involving just one new particle, the $S^{\pm \pm}$.Comment: 57 pages, 14 figures, 10 tables, version accepted for publication in JHE