Texture Zeros for Dirac Neutrinos and Current Experimental Tests

Abstract

The Daya Bay and RENO reactor neutrino experiments have revealed that the smallest neutrino mixing angle is in fact relatively large, i.e., theta_13 ~ 9 degrees. Motivated by this exciting progress, we perform a systematic study of the neutrino mass matrix M_nu with one or two texture zeros, in the assumption that neutrinos are Dirac particles. Among fifteen possible patterns with two texture zeros, only three turn out to be favored by current neutrino oscillation data at the 3 sigma level. Although all the six patterns with one texture zero are compatible with the experimental data at the 3 sigma level, the parameter space of each pattern is strictly constrained. Phenomenological implications of M_nu on the leptonic CP violation and neutrino mass spectrum are explored, and the stability of texture zeros against the radiative corrections is also discussed.