Abelian family symmetries and the simplest models that give theta13=0 in the neutrino mixing matrix

Abstract

I construct predictive models of neutrino mass and mixing that have fewer parameters, both in the lepton sector and overall, than the default seesaw model. The predictions are theta13=0 and one massless neutrino, with the models having a Z4 or Z2 symmetry and just one extra degree of freedom: one real singlet Higgs field. It has been shown that models with an unbroken family symmetry, and with no Higgs fields other than the Standard Model Higgs doublet produce masses and mixing matrices that have been ruled out by experiment. Therefore, this article investigates the predictions of models with Abelian family symmetries that involve Higgs singlets, doublets and triplets, in the hope that they may produce the maximal and minimal mixing angles seen in the best fit neutrino mixing matrix. I demonstrate that these models can only produce mixing angles that are zero, maximal or unconfined by the symmetry. The maximal mixing angles do not correspond to physical mixing, so an Abelian symmetry can, at best, ensure that theta13=0, while leaving the solar and atmospheric mixing angles as free parameters. To generate more features of the best-fit mixing matrix a model with a non-Abelian symmetry and a complicated Higgs sector would have to be used.