Nearly Degenerate Neutrinos and Broken Flavour Symmetry

Abstract

Theories with non-Abelian flavour symmetries lead at zeroth order to neutrino degeneracy and massless charged fermions. The flavour symmetry is spontaneously broken sequentially to give hierarchies $\Delta m_{atm}^2 \gg \Delta m_{\odot}^2$ and $m_\tau \gg m_\mu \gg m_e$, and a misalignment of the vacuum between neutrino and charged sectors gives large $\theta_{atm}$. Explicit models are given which determine $\theta_{atm} = 45^\circ$. A similar construction gives vacuum misalignment for the lighter generations and gives a vanishing $\beta \beta_{0 \nu}$ rate, so that there is no laboratory constraint on the amount of neutrino hot dark matter in the universe, and the solar mixing angle is also maximal, $\theta_\odot = 45^\circ$.