One texture zero for Dirac neutrinos in a diagonal charged lepton basis

Abstract

An analytic and numerical systematic study of the neutrino mass matrix with one texture zero is presented in a basis where the charged leptons are diagonal. Under the assumption that neutrinos are Dirac particles, the analysis is carried out in detail for the normal and inverted hierarchy mass spectrum. Our study is performed without any approximations, first analytically and then numerically, using current neutrino oscillation data. The analysis constrains the parameter space in such a way that, among the six possible one-texture-zero patterns, only four are favored in the normal hierarchy and, one in the inverted hierarchy, by current oscillation data at the $3 \sigma$ level. Phenomenological implications for the lepton CP-violating phase and neutrino masses are also explored.