On the Parametrization of Flavor Mixing in the Standard Model

It is shown that there exist nine different ways to describe the flavor mixing, in terms of three rotation angles and one CP-violating phase, within the standard electroweak theory of six quarks. For the assignment of the complex phase there essentially exists a continuum of possibilities, if one allows the phase to appear in more than four elements of the mixing matrix. If the phase is restricted to four elements, the phase assignment is uniquely defined. If one imposes the constraint that the phase disappears in a natural way in the chiral limit in which the masses of the u and d quarks are turned off, only three of the nine parametrizations are acceptable. In particular the ``standard'' parametrization advocated by the Particle Data Group is not permitted. One parametrization, in which the CP-violating phase is restricted to the light quark sector, stands up as the most favorable description of the flavor mixing.Comment: Latex 8 page

Can the Lepton Flavor Mixing Matrix Be Symmetric?

Current neutrino oscillation data indicate that the 3x3 lepton flavor mixing matrix V is likely to be symmetric about its V_{e3}-V_{\mu 2}-V_{\tau 1} axis. This off-diagonal symmetry corresponds to three pairs of {\it congruent} unitarity triangles in the complex plane. Terrestrial matter effects can substantially modify the genuine CP-violating parameter and off-diagonal asymmetries of V in realistic long-baseline experiments of neutrino oscillations.Comment: RexTex 14 pages (4 PS figures). More discussions adde

The T2K Indication of Relatively Large theta_13 and a Natural Perturbation to the Democratic Neutrino Mixing Pattern

The T2K Collaboration has recently reported a remarkable indication of the \nu_\mu -> \nu_e oscillation which is consistent with a relatively large value of \theta_{13} in the three-flavor neutrino mixing scheme. We show that it is possible to account for such a result of \theta_{13} by introducing a natural perturbation to the democratic neutrino mixing pattern, without or with CP violation. A testable correlation between \theta_{13} and \theta_{23} is predicted in this ansatz. We also discuss the Wolfenstein-like parametrization of neutrino mixing, and comment on other possibilities of generating sufficiently large \theta_{13} at the electroweak scale.Comment: RevTeX 8 page

The Glashow resonance as a discriminator of UHE cosmic neutrinos originating from p-gamma and p-p collisions

We re-examine the interesting possibility of utilizing the Glashow resonance (GR) channel nu_ebar + e^- to W^- to anything to discriminate between the UHE cosmic neutrinos originating from p-gamma and pp collisions in an optically thin source of cosmic rays. We propose a general parametrization of the initial neutrino flavor composition by allowing the ratios Phi^{p gamma}_{pi^-}/Phi^{p gamma}_{pi^+} and Phi^{pp}_{pi^-}/Phi^{pp}_{pi^+} to slightly deviate from their conventional values. A relationship between the typical source parameter kappa = (Phi^{p gamma}_{pi^+} + Phi^{p gamma}_{pi^-})/(Phi^{pp}_{pi^+} + Phi^{pp}_{pi^-} + Phi^{p gamma}_{pi^+} + Phi^{p gamma}_{pi^-}) and the working observable of the GR R_0 = Phi^T_{nu_ebar}/ (Phi^T_{nu_mu} + Phi^T_{nu_mu}) at a neutrino telescope is derived, and the numerical dependence of R_0 on kappa is illustrated by taking account of the latest experimental data on three neutrino mixing angles. It is shown that a measurement of R_0 is in principle possible to identify the pure p-gamma interaction (kappa =1), the pure pp interaction (kappa =0) or a mixture of both of them (0 < kappa < 1) at a given source of UHE cosmic neutrinos. The event rate of the GR signal against the background is also estimated.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Is the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa Matrix Symmetric at the GUT Scale?

By use of the one-loop renormalization group equations and current experimental data, we study the off-diagonal asymmetries of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix at the GUT scale in the framework of the standard model as well as its two Higgs and supersymmetric extensions. It is concluded that the possibility of a symmetric CKM matrix at the GUT scale has almost been ruled out.Comment: Latex 6 pages plus PS 2 pages. This tiny work would not have been put into this archive if I had not noticed an interesting work by P. Kielanowski et al (hep-ph/9703292), whose conclusion seems to be opposite to mine. (Accepted for publication in J. Phys. G

Texture Zeros and Majorana Phases of the Neutrino Mass Matrix

We present the generic formulas to calculate the ratios of neutrino masses and the Majorana phases of CP violation from the neutrino mass matrix with two independent vanishing entries in the flavor basis where the charged lepton mass matrix is diagonal. An order-of-magnitude illustration is given for seven experimentally acceptable textures of the neutrino mass matrix, and some analytical approximations are made for their phenomenological consequences at low energy scales