Mass independent textures and symmetry

Abstract

A mass-independent texture is a set of linear relations of the fermion mass-matrix elements which imposes no constraint on the fermionic masses nor the Majorana phases. Magic and 2\char21{}3 symmetries are examples. We discuss the general construction and the properties of these textures, as well as their relation to the quark and neutrino mixing matrices. Such a texture may be regarded as a symmetry, whose unitary generators of the symmetry group can be explicitly constructed. In particular, the symmetries connected with the tribimaximal neutrino mixing matrix are discussed, together with the physical consequence of breaking one symmetry but preserving another.