We consider a class of discrete flavour symmetries for leptons based on the group S(3) and A(4) with an hybrid breaking pattern. The aim is to construct models in which the same flavon fields producing the mixing pattern are also responsible for the mass hierarchy.
In this review article, we highlight the impact of models incorporating flavour symmetries on charged lepton flavour violating (LFV) processes. Flavour symmetries provide a natural approach to explain the peculiar mass hierarchies and mixing patterns of the Standard Model fermions. New sources of LFV are generally present in new physics beyond the Standard Model, and flavour symmetries can make distinctive predictions for LFV observables. Their discovery can provide crucial information to distinguish flavour symmetries and new physics scenarios in general. Because of their high sensitivity, we…
Based on flavour symmetries only, there are two ways to give rise to an effective description of flavour physics in the quark sector close to the CKM picture: one is based on $U(3)_q\times U(3)_u\times U(3)_d$ (or equivalent) and the other on $U(2)_q\times U(2)_u\times U(2)_d$ (or equivalent). In this context we analyze the current status of flavour physics measurements and we compare their impact, in the specific case of supersymmetry, with the direct searches of new particles at the LHC, present or foreseen.
Flavour symmetries are fundamental tools in the search for an explanation to the flavour puzzle: fermion mass hierarchies, the neutrino mass ordering, the differences between the mixing matrices in the quark and lepton sector, can all find an explanation in models where the fermion generations undergo specific geometric relations. An overview on the implementation of continuous symmetries in the flavour sector is presented here, focussing on the lepton sector.
We rewrite the Yukawa interactions of the standard model in terms of flavour-dependent vacuum structure to address the family mass hierarchy and CP violation in both the quark sector and lepton sector. It is realized for the first time that the Lagrangian only includes the same number of degrees of freedom as phenomenological observables with no requirement of extra particles or any new symmetry. The quark and lepton mass hierarchy arises as a natural result of the close-to-flat vacuum in flavour space. The CP violation in CKM and PMNS is explained as a general quantum phase between weak gauge…
We re-examine the constraints on continuous family symmetries coming from flavour changing neutral current limits on the D-term contributions to squark and slepton masses. We show that, for a restricted choice of the familon sector, continuous family symmetries are consistent with even the most conservative limits both for the case of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking and the case of gravity mediated supersymmetry breaking.
We study the contraints on non-flavour-blind soft supersymmetry breaking terms coming from flavour and CP violating processes in the presence of hierarchical Yukawa couplings, and quantify how much these constraints are weakened in the regions of the MSSM parameter space characterized by heavy gauginos and multi-TeV sfermion masses, respectively. We also study the inverted sfermion mass hierarchy scenario in the context of D-term supersymmetry breaking, and show that generic hierarchical Yukawa couplings with arbitrary phases require first generation squarks in the few 10 TeV range.
We study the approximate flavour symmetries imposed on the lepton sector assuming see-saw mechanism as the neutrino mass structure. We apply the symmetry to various neutrino phenomenologies and obtain constraints on neutrino masses and mixings.
We construct a supersymmetric SU(5) x A_4 flavour GUT model in which an inverse neutrino mass hierarchy is realised without fine-tuning of parameters. The model shares some properties with the normal hierarchy model which we presented in arXiv:1305.6612 - in particular the relation theta_13^PMNS = theta_C / sqrt(2). Besides these shared features, there are also important differences, mainly due to the different neutrino sector. These differences not only change the predictions in the lepton sector, but also in the quark sector, and will allow to discriminate between the two models using the re…
The so-called supersymmetric flavour problem does not exist in isolation to the Standard Model flavour problem. We show that a realistic flavour symmetry can simultaneously solve both problems without ad hoc modifications of the SUSY model. Furthermore, departures from the SM expectations in these models can be used to discriminate among different possibilities. In particular we present the expected values for the electron EDM in a flavour model solving the supersymmetric flavour and CP problems.
We propose a theory of flavour based on abelian horizontal gauge symmetries and modular invariances. We construct explicit supergravity models where the scale of the horizontal $U(1)$ symmetry breaking is fixed by the Green-Schwarz mechanism for anomaly cancellation. The supersymmetric spectrum is obtained in terms of the $U(1)$ charges which are determined by the Yukawa matrices.
We provide a general classification of flavour symmetries according to their interplay with the proper Poincare' and gauge groups and to their linear or nonlinear action in field space. We focus on the lepton sector and we review the different types of symmetries describing neutrino masses and the lepton mixing matrix. For each type of symmetry we present several illustrative examples and we discuss specific strengths and limitations.
Both discrete flavour symmetries and Grand Unified symmetries explain apparent structures in the mass sector of the Standard Model. A model that combines both symmetries is therefore very appealing. We construct a model with the $S_4$ flavour symmetry and the Pati-Salam unification. We show that this model can indeed explain many observable relations between the masses of the quarks and leptons and that it is predictive in the neutrino sector. However, the combination of the two symmetries leads to new complications in the Higgs sector and in the running of the renormalisation group equations.
The classification of lepton mixing matrices from finite residual symmetries is reviewed, with emphasis on the role of vanishing sums of roots of unity for the solution of this problem.
We discuss the tension between discrete flavour symmetries and extended scalar sectors arising from lepton flavour violation experiments. The key point is that extended scalar sectors will generically lead to flavour changing neutral currents, which are strongly constrained by experiments. Due to the large parameter space in the scalar sector such models will, however, usually have no big problems with existing and future bounds (even though the models might be constrained). This changes considerably once a flavour symmetry is imposed in addition: Due to the symmetry, additional relations betw…
The interplay between flavour symmetries connecting Bs-->KK decays with the recently measured Bd--> K0 anti-K0 decay and QCD Factorisation opens new strategies to describe the decays Bs--> K0 anti-K0 and Bs--> K+ K- in the SM and in supersymmetry. A new relation, emerging from the sum-rule for the Bs--> K0 anti-K0 decay mode, is presented offering a new way to determine the weak mixing angle phi_s of the Bs system.
We discuss a supersymmetric grand unified model which has gauge group SU(5) $\times$ SU(5) $\times$ SU(5), with matter fields transforming asymmetrically under different gauge SU(5) groups. We observe that the gauge structure of the model leads to approximate texture zero structures in fermion mass matrices and a natural hierarchy in the Yukawa couplings. The proton lifetime is estimated to be larger than $10^{34}$ years in this model. As in more conventional supersymmetric GUT models with product gauge groups, this model possesses no tensor fields with rank higher than 2, so that it might ari…
We discuss charged lepton flavour violating processes such as mu -> e gamma in supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model and in models with gauge-Higgs unification and a warped extra dimension. In both classes of models the processes turn out to be compatible with present experimental bounds, but can be detected by future experiments, thanks to the presence of a flavour symmetry G_f which constrains the form of the relevant couplings. The symmetry G_f is chosen to be finite, discrete and non-abelian and also helps to predict the peculiar lepton mixing pattern.
In view of the fact that the data on neutrino mixing are still compatible with a situation where Bimaximal mixing is valid in first approximation and it is then corrected by terms of order of the Cabibbo angle, we present examples where these properties are naturally realized. The models are supersymmetric in 4-dimensions and based on the discrete non-Abelian flavour symmetry S4.
Here we propose an $A_4$ flavour symmetry model which implies a lower bound on the neutrinoless double beta decay rate, corresponding to an effective mass parameter $M_{ee} \gsim 0.03$ eV, and a direct correlation between the expected magnitude of CP violation in neutrino oscillations and the value of $\sin^2θ_{13}$, as well as a nearly maximal CP phase $δ$.
We establish the full list of flavour symmetry groups which may be enforced, without producing any further accidental symmetry, on the Yukawa-coupling matrices of an SO(10) Grand Unified Theory with arbitrary numbers of scalar multiplets in the 10, $\overline{126}$, and 120 representations of SO(10). For each of the possible discrete non-Abelian symmetry groups, we present examples of minimal models which do not run into obvious contradiction with the phenomenological fermion masses and mixings.
The impact of rare lepton decays ($μ\to e γ$, $τ\to μγ$, >...) and rare $B$ and $K$ decays ($B\to \ell^+\ell^-$, $B\to \ellν$, $K\to πνν$, $K\to\ellν$, ...) in probing the existence of an underlying flavour symmetry is reviewd. Particualar emphasis is deveoted to the connections between quark and lepton flavour strucutres, in the context of generic effective field theory approach to physics beyond the SM.
We consider a new approach to fermion masses and mixings in which no special "horizontal" dynamics is invoked to account for the hierarchical pattern of charged fermion masses and for the peculiar features of neutrino masses. The hierarchy follows from the vertical, family-independent structure of the model, in particular from the breaking pattern of the Pati-Salam group. The lightness of the first two fermion families can be related to two family symmetries emerging in this context as accidental symmetries.
We study the set of models in which the Standard Model symmetry is extended with the flavour group A4 and there are three copies of the Standard Model Higgs that transform as a triplet under this group. In this setup, new channels for flavour violating processes can be studied once the A4 representations of the fermions in the theory are given. We show that it is of great importance to take these constraints into account as they can put severe constraints on the viability of flavour models.
We briefly review some recent developments in theoretical models of fermion masses, mixings and CP violation with discrete non-Abelian symmetries. Then, we explain the main ideas of a recently proposed Minimal S_3 Invariant Extension of the Standard Model and its application to a unified analysis of masses, mixings and CP violation in the leptonic and quark sectors as well as the explicit computation of the V_PMNS and V_CKM mixing matrices.
We investigate to what extent a generic, generation-dependent $U(1)$ symmetry acting on the quark Yukawa operators can reduce the number of free parameters by forcing some entries in the Yukawa matrices to vanish. The maximal reduction compatible with CP violation yields nine real parameters and one phase, which matches the number of physical observables, implying that such models have no free parameters. We derive a set of results: (i) the only possible structures have the form $M_4 \oplus M_5$, where the subscripts indicate the number of real parameters in the Yukawa matrices, (ii) there are…
We demonstrate how residual flavour symmetries, infrared signatures of symmetry breaking in complete models of flavour, can naturally forbid (or limit in a flavour specific way) flavour-changing neutral currents (FCNC) in multi-Higgs-doublet models (MHDM) without using mass hierarchies. We first review how this model-independent mechanism can control the fermionic mixing patterns of the Standard Model, and then implement the symmetries in the Yukawa sector of MHDM, which allows us to intimately connect the predictivity of a given flavour model with its ability to sequester FCNC. Finally, after…
Flavour symmetries have been used to constrain both quark and lepton mixing parameters. In particular, they can be used to completely fix the mixing angles. For the lepton sector, assuming that neutrinos are Majorana particles, we have derived the complete list of mixing patterns achievable in this way, as well as the symmetry groups associated to each case. Partial computer scans done in the past have hinted that such list is limited, and this does indeed turn out to be the case. In addition, most mixing patterns are already 3-sigma excluded by neutrino oscillation data.
We give a consistent definition of generalised CP transformations in the context of discrete flavour symmetries. Non-trivial consistency conditions imply that every generalised CP transformation can be interpreted as a representation of an automorphism of the discrete group. This allows us to give consistent generalised CP transformations of popular flavour groups. We are able to clear up issues concerning recent claims about geometrical CP violation in models based on T', clarify the origin of 'calculable phases' in Delta(27) and explain why apparently CP violating scalar potentials of A4 res…
Lepton flavour non-conserving processes are examined in the context of unified models with U(1)-family symmetries which reproduce successfully the low-energy hierarchy of the fermion mass spectrum and the Kobayashi - Maskawa mixing. These models usually imply mixing effects in the supersymmetric scalar sector. We construct the fermion and scalar mass matrices in two viable models, and calculate the mixing effects on the $μ\to eγ$, $μ\to 3 e$ and $τ\to μγ$ rare decays. The relevant constraints on the sparticle mass spectrum as well as the role of various MSSM parameters are discussed.
The current status of our knowledge of the 3-neutrino mixing parameters and of the CP violation in the lepton sector is summarised. The discrete symmetry approach to understanding the observed pattern of neutrino mixing and the related predictions for neutrino mixing angles and leptonic Dirac CP violation are reviewed.
Models of leptonic flavour with discrete symmetries can provide an attractive explanation of the pattern of elements found in the leptonic mixing matrix. The next generation of neutrino oscillation experiments will allow the mixing parameters to be tested to a new level of precision, crucially measuring the CP violating phase δ for the first time. In this contribution, we present results of a systematic survey of the predictions of a class of models based on residual discrete symmetries and the prospects for excluding such models at medium- and long-term oscillation experiments. We place parti…
We analyse B_{d,s} -> K(*)0 K(*)0 modes within the SM, relating them in a controlled way through SU(3)-flavour symmetry and QCD-improved factorisation. We propose a set of sum rules for such penguin-mediated decays to constrain some CKM angles. We determine B_s -> KK branching ratios and CP-asymmetries as functions of A_{dir}(B_d -> K0 \bar{K}0). Applying the same techniques to B_{d,s}-> K*0 \bar{K}*0, we outline strategies to determine the B_s mixing angle.
Imposing non-Abelian discrete flavour symmetries to neutrino non-standard interactions (NSIs) is discussed for the first time. For definiteness, we choose $A_4$ as the flavour symmetry, which is subsequently broken to the residual symmetry $Z_2$ in the neutrino sector. We provide a general discussion on flavour structures of NSIs from higher-dimensional operators ($d\leqslant8$) without inducing unnecessary tree-level 4-charged-fermion interactions. Both $A_4$- and $Z_2$-motivated NSI textures are obtained. UV completions of higher-dimensional operators lead to extra experimental constraints o…
We present predictions for $μ\to e γ$ and $τ\to μγ$ in the CMSSM in which there is a natural hierarchy of neutrino masses resulting from the sequential dominance of three right-handed neutrinos. We perform a global analysis of this model in the $(m_0,M_{1/2})$ plane, assuming radiative electroweak symmetry breaking, and including all observed laboratory data. We confirm that a large (small) $τ\to μγ$ rate results from the dominant right-handed neutrino being the heaviest (lightest) one. We show that the $μ\to e γ$ rate may determine the order of the sub-dominant neutrino Yukawa couplings in th…
Flavour symmetries are fundamental tools in the search for an explanation to the flavour puzzle: fermion mass hierarchies, the neutrino mass ordering, the differences between the mixing matrices in the quark and lepton sector, can all find an explanation in models where the fermion generations undergo specific geometric relations. An overview on the implementation of continuous symmetries in the flavour sector is presented here, focussing on the lepton sector.
We construct an extension of the Standard Model (SM) which is based on grand unification with Pati-Salam symmetry. The setup is supplemented with the idea of spontaneous flavour symmetry breaking which is mediated through flavon fields with renormalizable couplings to new heavy fermions. While we argue that the new gauge bosons in this approach can be sufficiently heavy to be irrelevant at low energies, the fermionic partners of the SM quarks, in particular those for the third generation, can be relatively light and provide new sources of flavour violation. The size of the effects is constrain…
I propose the use of CP-odd invariants, which are independent of basis and valid for any choice of CP transformation, as a powerful approach to study CP in the presence of flavour symmetries. As examples of the approach I focus on Lagrangians invariant under $Δ(27)$. I comment on the consequences of adding a specific CP symmetry to a Lagrangian and distinguish cases where several $Δ(27)$ singlets are present depending on how they couple to the triplets. One of the examples included is a very simple toy model with explicit CP violation with calculable phases, which is referred to as explicit ge…
Sum rules in the lepton sector provide an extremely valuable tool to classify flavour models in terms of relations between neutrino masses and mixing parameters testable in a plethora of experiments. In this manuscript we identify new leptonic sum rules arising in models with modular symmetries with residual symmetries. These models simultaneously present neutrino mass sum rules, involving masses and Majorana phases, and mixing sum rules, connecting the mixing angles and the Dirac CP-violating phase. The simultaneous appearance of both types of sum rules leads to some non-trivial interplay, fo…
In order to satisfy current FCNC and CP violation bounds, SUSY flavour structures cannot be generic. An interesting solution to these SUSY Flavour and CP Problems lies on the use of an SU(3) family symmetry which spontaneously breaks CP symmetry. Typical observables of such a model are electric dipole moments and LFV processes. In addition, these models can give contributions to CP violation in neutral meson mixing. We show how the latter can be used to restrict the allowed SUSY parameter space, and induce correlations between LFV and EDM predictions.
The gauge sector of the Standard Model (SM) exhibits a flavour symmetry which allows for independent unitary transformations of the fermion multiplets. In the SM the flavour symmetry is broken by the Yukawa couplings to the Higgs boson, and the resulting fermion masses and mixing angles show a pronounced hierarchy. In this work we connect the observed hierarchy to a sequence of intermediate effective theories, where the flavour symmetries are broken in a step-wise fashion by vacuum expectation values of suitably constructed spurion fields. We identify the possible scenarios in the quark sector…
We explore the possibility that lepton family numbers and baryon number are such good symmetries of Nature because they are the global remnant of a spontaneously broken gauge symmetry. An almost arbitrary linear combination of these symmetries (together with a component of global hypercharge) can be consistently gauged, if the Standard Model (SM) fermion content is augmented by three chiral SM singlet states. Within this framework of $U(1)$ extensions of the SM one generically expects flavour non-universality to emerge in the charged leptons, in such a way that naturally prevents lepton flavou…
We study the possible magnitudes of CP and lepton-number-violating quantities in specific GUT models of massive neutrinos with different Abelian flavour groups, taking into account experimental constraints and requiring successful leptogenesis. We discuss SU(5) and flipped SU(5) models that are consistent with the present data on neutrino mixing and upper limits on the violations of charged-lepton flavours and explore their predictions for the CP-violating oscillation and Majorana phases. In particular, we discuss string-derived flipped SU(5) models with selection rules that modify the GUT str…
We present a new analysis of B_{d,s}->KK modes within the SM, relating them in a controlled way through SU(3)-flavour symmetry and QCD-improved factorisation. We propose a set of sum rules for B_{d,s}-> K^0{\bar K}^0 observables. We determine B_s-> KK branching ratios and CP-asymmetries as functions of A_{dir}(B_d-> K^0{\bar K}^0), pointing out a conflict between BR(B_s-> K+K-) in the SM and data. Finally, we predict the amount of U-spin breaking between B_d-> pi+pi- and B_s-> K+K-.
We consider an inverse seesaw mechanism of neutrino mass generation in which the Standard Model is extended by $3+3$ (heavy) sterile states, and endowed with a flavour symmetry $G_f$, $G_f=Δ(3 \, n^2)$ or $G_f=Δ(6 \, n^2)$, and a CP symmetry. These symmetries are broken in a peculiar way, so that in the charged lepton sector a residual symmetry $G_\ell$ is preserved, while the neutral fermion sector remains invariant under the residual symmetry $G_ν=Z_2 \times CP$. We study the concrete setup, where the Majorana mass term for three of the sterile states conserves $G_ν$, while the remaining mas…
Both Grand Unified symmetries and discrete flavour symmetries are appealing ways to describe apparent structures in the gauge and flavour sectors of the Standard Model. Both symmetries put constraints on the high energy behaviour of the theory. This can give rise to unexpected interplay when building models that possess both symmetries. We investigate on the possibility to combine a Pati-Salam model with the discrete flavour symmetry $S_4$ that gives rise to quark-lepton complementarity. Under appropriate assumptions at the GUT scale, the model reproduces fermion masses and mixings both in the…
We develop a general formalism for multiple moduli and their associated modular symmetries. We apply this formalism to an example based on three moduli with finite modular symmetries $S_4^A$, $S_4^B$ and $S_4^C$, associated with two right-handed neutrinos and the charged lepton sector, respectively. The symmetry is broken by two bi-triplet scalars to the diagonal $S_4$ subgroup. The low energy effective theory involves the three independent moduli fields $τ_A$, $τ_B$ and $τ_C$, which preserve the residual modular subgroups $Z_3^A$, $Z_2^B$ and $Z_3^C$, in their respective sectors, leading to t…
We consider an extension of the Standard Model in which the symmetry is enlarged by a global flavour factor A4 and the scalar sector accounts for three copies of the Standard Model Higgs, transforming as a triplet of A4. In this context, we study the most general scalar potential and its minima, performing for each of them a model independent analysis on the related phenomenology. We study the scalar spectrum, the new contributions to the oblique corrections, the decays of the Z and W, the new sources of flavour violation, which all are affected by the introduction of multiple Higgses transfor…
We present a new analysis of B_d,s -> KK modes within the SM, relating them in a controlled way through SU(3)-flavour symmetry and QCD-improved factorisation. We propose a set of sum rules for B_d,s -> K^0 \bar K^0 observables. We determine B_s -> KK branching ratios and CP-asymmetries as functions of A_dir(B_d -> K^0 \bar K^0), with a good agreement with current experimental measurements of CDF. Finally, we predict the amount of U-spin breaking between B_d -> pi+ pi- and B_s -> K+K-.
The flavour puzzle is an open problem both in the Standard Model and in its possible supersymmetric or grand unified extensions. In this thesis, we discuss possible explanations of the origin of fermion mass hierarchies and mixings by the use of non-Abelian discrete flavour symmetries. We present a T'- and an S4-based realisations in which the spontaneous breaking of the symmetry produces realistic fermion mass hierarchies, the quark mixing matrix comparable to the Wolfenstein parametrisation and the lepton mixing matrix close to the so-called tribimaximal pattern. We also present an alternati…
We compare theoretical and experimental predictions of two main classes of models addressing fermion mass hierarchies and flavour changing neutral currents (FCNC) effects in supersymmetry: Froggatt-Nielsen (FN) U(1) gauged flavour models and Nelson-Strassler/extra dimensional models with hierarchical wave functions for the families. We show that whereas the two lead to identical predictions in the fermion mass matrices, the second class generates a stronger suppression of FCNC effects. We prove that, whereas at first sight the FN setup is more constrained due to anomaly cancelation conditions,…
We discuss flavour dependent leptogenesis in the framework of lepton flavour models based on discrete flavour and CP symmetries applied to the type-I seesaw model. Working in the flavour basis, we analyse the case of two general residual CP symmetries in the neutrino sector, which corresponds to all possible semi-direct models based on a preserved $Z_2$ in the neutrino sector, together with a CP symmetry, which constrains the PMNS matrix up to a single free parameter which may be fixed by the reactor angle. We systematically study and classify this case for all possible residual CP symmetries,…
We conjecture the existence of a relation between elementary scalars and fermions, making it plausible the existence of three Higgs doublets. We introduce a Trinity Principle (TP) which, given the fact that there are no massless quarks, requires the existence of a minimum of three Higgs doublets. The TP states that each line of the mass matrix of a quark of a given charge should receive the contribution from one and only one scalar doublet and furthermore a given scalar doublet should contribute to one and only one line of the mass matrix of a quark of a given charge. This principle is analogo…
In the context of a renormalizable supersymmetric SO(10) Grand Unified Theory, we consider the fermion mass matrices generated by the Yukawa couplings to a $\mathbf{10} \oplus \mathbf{120} \oplus \bar{\mathbf{126}}$ representation of scalars. We perform a complete investigation of the possibilities of imposing flavour symmetries in this scenario; the purpose is to reduce the number of Yukawa coupling constants in order to identify potentially predictive models. We have found that there are only 14 inequivalent cases of Yukawa coupling matrices, out of which 13 cases are generated by $Z_n$ symm…
In the framework of gauged flavour symmetries, new fermions in parity symmetric representations of the standard model are generically needed for the compensation of mixed anomalies. The key point is that their masses are also protected by flavour symmetries and some of them are expected to lie way below the flavour symmetry breaking scale(s), which has to occur many orders of magnitude above the electroweak scale to be compatible with the available data from flavour changing neutral currents and CP violation experiments. We argue that, actually, some of these fermions would plausibly get masse…
The confirmation of the discrepancy with the Standard Model predictions in the anomalous magnetic moment by the Muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab points to a low scale of new physics. Flavour symmetries broken at low energies can account for this discrepancy but these models are much more restricted, as they would also generate off-diagonal entries in the dipole moment matrix. Therefore, if we assume that the observed discrepancy in the muon $g-2$ is explained by the contributions of a low-energy flavor symmetry, lepton flavour violating processes can constrain the structure of the lepton mass m…
Any supersymmetric mechanism to solve the flavour puzzle would generate mixing both in the superpotential Yukawa couplings and in the Kahler potential. In this paper we study, in a model independent way, the impact of the nontrivial structure of the Kahler potential on the physical mixing matrix, after kinetic terms are canonically normalized. We undertake this analysis both for the quark sector and the neutrino sector. For the quark sector, and in view of the experimental values for the masses and mixing angles, we find that the effects of canonical normalization are subdominant. On the other…