Fermion Mass Hierarchy Research Articles

Effective Interactions for the SM Fermion Mass Hierarchy and their Possible UV Realization

Abstract We build an extended two Higgs doublet model theory with spontaneously broken $U(1) _{X}$ global symmetry, where the tree-level universal seesaw mechanism generates the mass hierarchy of the Standard Model charged fermions and the Zee–Babu mechanism produces tiny active neutrino masses. The third family of SM charged fermions gets tree-level masses from Yukawa interactions involving the Higgs doublets $H_1$ (for the top quark) and $H_2$ (for the bottom quark and tau lepton). The model under consideration is consistent with SM fermion masses and mixings, with the muon and electron $g-2$ anomalies, and successfully accommodates the constraints arising from charged-lepton-flavor violation and meson oscillations. The proposed model predicts rates for charged-lepton-flavor-violating decays within the reach of forthcoming experiments.

Fermion masses and mixings and g − 2 muon anomaly in a Q6 flavored 2HDM

We propose an extended 2HDM with Q6×Z4×Z2 symmetry that can successfully accommodate the SM fermion mass and mixing hierarchy. The tiny masses of the active neutrinos are generated from a type-I seesaw mechanism mediated by very heavy right-handed Majorana neutrinos. The model gives a natural explanation of the charged lepton mass hierarchy. Besides that, the experimental values of the physical observables of the neutrino sector: the neutrino mass squared splittings, the leptonic mixing angles and the leptonic Dirac CP violating phase, are also successfully reproduced for both normal and inverted neutrino mass hierarchies. We find a feasible range of values for the leptonic Dirac CP phase to be in the ranges δCP∈(305.90,348.70)∘ for normal ordering and δCP∈(308.00,348.00)∘ for inverted ordering, which is consistent with the 3σ experimentally allowed limits. The sum of neutrino masses is obtained as ∑mi∈(58.03,60.51) meV for normal ordering and ∑mi∈(98.07,101.40) meV for inverted ordering which are well consistent with all the recent limits. In addition, the obtained ranges for the effective neutrino masses are 〈mee〉∈(3.80,4.38) meV, mβ∈(8.53,9.34)meV for normal ordering and 〈mee〉∈(47.85,49.58) meV, mβ∈(48.39,50.09)meV for inverted ordering which are in agreement with the recent experimental bounds. For the quark sector, the derived results are also in agreement with the recent data on the quark masses and mixing angles. The model under consideration can also accommodate the muon anomalous magnetic moment.

Proton Decay and Gauge Coupling Unification in an Extended SU(5) GUT with 45D Higgs

Abstract We present a comprehensive study of an extended SU(5) grand unified theory (GUT) that incorporates a 45D Higgs representation to address the shortcomings of the minimal SU(5) GUT, such as the inability to generate realistic fermion mass hierarchies and insufficient proton stability. By considering a hierarchical mass spectrum for the scalar components of the 45D Higgs, we demonstrate that successful gauge coupling unification (GCU) can be achieved. The color octet scalar, color triplet scalar, and color antitriplet scalar play crucial roles in realizing GCU when their masses are significantly lighter than other components of the 45D Higgs. We focus on the proton decay channels mediated by the exchange of the color antitriplet scalar. Assuming that the 45D Higgs couples to all three generations of fermions, we determine the 45D Higgs Yukawa couplings with which the observed fermion mass matrices at low energies are realized. We calculate proton decay rates using the Yukawa couplings obtained from renormalization group evolutions and matching conditions at the GUT scale, thereby exploring the dependence of proton decay rates on model parameters. We find that the $p \rightarrow \nu \pi$ mode imposes the most stringent constraint on the mass of the color antitriplet scalar $M_{S_1}$. We also study the correlations between the lower bounds on $M_{S_1}$ derived from different proton decay modes.

Decoding fermion mass pattern from mass hierarchy

Abstract Building an organized Yukawa structure of quarks and leptons is an essential mission to understand fermion mass hierarchy and flavor mixing in particle physics. Inspired by the similarity of CKM and PMNS mixings, a common mass pattern for up-type and down-type quarks, charged leptons, and Dirac neutrinos is realized in terms of hierarchal masses. An organized structure of Yukawa couplings can be expressed on a Yukawa basis. The CKM mixing and PMNS mixing have the same mathematical forms due to SO(2) family symmetry. By fitting the CKM/PMNS mixing experiment, the flat pattern becomes a successful flavor structure. The fundamental fermions can be explained by a new picture to show the relationship between gauge structure and flavor structure.

A common framework for fermion mass hierarchy, leptogenesis and dark matter

In this work, we explore an extension of the Standard Model designed to elucidate the fermion mass hierarchy, account for the dark matter relic abundance, and explain the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. Beyond the Standard Model particle content, our model introduces additional scalars and fermions. Notably, the light active neutrinos and the first two generations of charged fermions acquire masses at the one-loop level. The model accommodates successful low-scale leptogenesis, permitting the mass of the decaying heavy right-handed neutrino to be as low as 10 TeV. We conduct a detailed analysis of the dark matter phenomenology and explore various interesting phenomenological implications. These include charged lepton flavor violation, muon and electron anomalous magnetic moments, constraints arising from electroweak precision observables, and implications for collider experiments.

Towards understanding fermion masses and mixings

The Standard Model does not constrain the form of the Yukawa matrices and thus the origin of fermion mass hierarchies and mixing pattern remains puzzling. On the other hand, there are intriguing relations between the quark masses and their weak mixing angles, such as the well-known relationship [Formula: see text] for the Cabibbo angle, which may point towards specific textures of Yukawa matrices hypothesized by Harald Fritzsch at the end of the 70s. Though the original ansatz of Fritzsch is excluded by the experimental data, one can consider its minimal modification which consists in introducing an asymmetry between the 23 and 32 entries in the down-quark Yukawa matrix. We show that this structure is perfectly compatible with the present precision data on quark masses and CKM mixing matrix, and theoretically it can be obtained in the context of [Formula: see text] model with inter-family [Formula: see text] symmetry. We also discuss some alternative approaches which could give a natural description of the fermion mass spectrum and weak mixing pattern.

Tri-unification: a separate SU(5) for each fermion family

In this paper we discuss SU(5)3 with cyclic symmetry as a possible grand unified theory (GUT). The basic idea of such a tri-unification is that there is a separate SU(5) for each fermion family, with the light Higgs doublet(s) arising from the third family SU(5), providing a basis for charged fermion mass hierarchies. SU(5)3 tri-unification reconciles the idea of gauge non-universality with the idea of gauge coupling unification, opening the possibility to build consistent non-universal descriptions of Nature that are valid all the way up to the scale of grand unification. As a concrete example, we propose a grand unified embedding of the tri-hypercharge model \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${\ ext{U}}{\\left(1\\right)}_{Y}^{3}$$\\end{document} based on an SU(5)3 framework with cyclic symmetry. We discuss a minimal tri-hypercharge example which can account for all the quark and lepton (including neutrino) masses and mixing parameters. We show that it is possible to unify the many gauge couplings into a single gauge coupling associated with the cyclic SU(5)3 gauge group, by assuming minimal multiplet splitting, together with a set of relatively light colour octet scalars. We also study proton decay in this example, and present the predictions for the proton lifetime in the dominant e+π0 channel.

B − L model with D 4 × Z 4 × Z 2 symmetry for fermion mass hierarchies and mixings* *This research was funded by Tay Nguyen University under grant number T2023-45CBTÐ

We constructed a gauge model with symmetry to explain the quark and lepton mass hierarchies and their mixings with realistic CP phases via the type-I seesaw mechanism. Six quark mases, three quark mixing angles, and the CP phase in the quark sector take the central values whereas Yukawa couplings in the quark sector are diluted in a range of difference of three orders of magnitude by the perturbation theory at the first order. Concerning the neutrino sector, a small neutrino mass is achieved by the type-I seesaw mechanism. Both inverted and normal neutrino mass hierarchies are consistent with the experimental data. The predicted sum of neutrino masses for normal and inverted hierarchies, the effective neutrino masses, and the Dirac CP phase are also consistent with recently reported limits.

An unfamiliar way to generate the hierarchy of standard model fermion masses

While the properties of the observed Higgs boson agree with the Standard Model predictions, the hierarchy of fermion masses lacks an explanation within the model. In this work, we consider a fresh approach to this problem, involving a different Higgs doublet responsible for each quark mass. We construct a model with a gauged, non-anomalous U(1) family symmetry that fixes which fermion couples to which doublet with an O\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{O} $$\\end{document}(1) Yukawa coupling. The hierarchy of masses is generated by the hierarchy of vacuum expectation values of the Higgs fields. The model generically predicts a light, weakly coupled pseudoscalar. We verify that the model satisfies constraints from flavour changing neutral currents, Higgs phenomenology and electroweak precision tests.

Clifford algebra Cl(0,6) approach to beyond the standard model and naturalness problems

Is there more to Dirac’s gamma matrices than meets the eye? It turns out that gamma zero can be factorized into a product of three operators. This revelation facilitates the expansion of Dirac’s space-time algebra to Clifford algebra [Formula: see text]. The resultant rich geometric structure can be leveraged to establish a combined framework of the standard model and gravity, wherein a gravi-weak interaction between the vierbein field and the extended weak gauge field is allowed. Inspired by the composite Higgs model, we examine the vierbein field as an effective description of the fermion–antifermion condensation. The compositeness of space-time manifests itself at an energy scale which is different from the Planck scale. We propose that all the regular classical Lagrangian terms are of quantum condensation origin, thus possibly addressing the cosmological constant problem provided that we exercise extreme caution in the renormalization procedure that entails multiplications of divergent integrals. The Clifford algebra approach also permits a weaker form of charge conjugation without particle–antiparticle interchange, which leads to a Majorana-type mass that conserves lepton number. Additionally, in the context of spontaneous breaking of two global [Formula: see text] symmetries, we explore a three-Higgs-doublet model which could explain the fermion mass hierarchies.

Fermion mass hierarchy and mixing in simplified grand gauge–Higgs unification

Grand gauge–Higgs unification of five-dimensional SU(6) gauge theory on an orbifold S 1/Z 2 with localized gauge kinetic terms is discussed. The Standard Model (SM) fermions on the boundaries and some massive bulk fermions coupling to the SM fermions are introduced. Compared to the previous model, the number of bulk fermions is reduced, which reproduces the generation mixing of SM fermions and SM fermion mass hierarchy by mildly tuning the bulk masses and parameters of the localized gauge kinetic terms.

Modular binary octahedral symmetry for flavor structure of Standard Model

We have investigated the modular binary octahedral group 2O as a flavor symmetry to explain the structure of Standard Model. The vector-valued modular forms in all irreducible representations of this group are constructed. We have classified all possible fermion mass models based on the modular binary octahedral group 2O. A comprehensive numerical analysis is performed, and we present some benchmark quark/lepton mass models in good agreement with the experimental data. Notably we find a minimal modular invariant model for leptons and quarks, which is able to explain simultaneously the masses and mixing parameters of both quarks and leptons in terms of 14 real free parameters including the modulus τ. The fermion mass hierarchies around the vicinity of the modular fixed points are explored.

The minimal flavor structure of quarks and leptons

A flavor structure with minimal parameters is proposed to address the fermion mass hierarchy and flavor mixing for quarks and leptons. Yukawa interaction is reconstructed in a new basis to show a common flat structure for up-type quarks, down-type quarks, charged leptons, and Dirac neutrinos. A flavor symmetry is found from the hierarchy masses of quarks and leptons, which dominated Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa (CKM) mixing for quarks and Pontecorvo–Maki–Nakagawa–Sakata mixing for leptons. It results that the minimal flavor structure successfully addresses flavor mixings of quarks and leptons even in the mass hierarchy limit, which means that mass hierarchy and flavor mixing are two independent questions. As a prediction, a sum rule on the mixing angles and CP violation phase (CPV) is suggested, which explains the smallness of s 13 as a natural result of the mass hierarchy. Generalizing the flat structure to quarks and leptons, a unified Yukawa interaction is also achieved for all fermions with only a single coupling.

Nested warped geometry in a non-flat braneworld scenario

We generalize nested multiply warped braneworld models by incorporating non-zero brane curvature caused by an effective cosmological constant Omega induced on the 3-branes. Starting with the doubly warped model, we first analyze the case where the maximally warped brane is identified as the visible brane. For Omega <0, resolution of the gauge hierarchy problem imposes a small upper bound on |Omega |, and can possibly lead to positivity of all the 3-brane tensions. For Omega >0, the latter is not possible but the tuning of the cosmological constant to its tiny observed value is linked to the tuning of the extra dimensional moduli close to the inverse Planck length, justifying the original flat brane approximation. In both regimes, we study the dependence of the scale-clustering of the pair of TeV-branes on the brane cosmological constant and hence its potential role in generating a fermion mass hierarchy between these branes. Identifying the near-maximally warped brane as the visible brane instead opens up regions in the parameter space that allow positive 3-brane tensions for both anti de Sitter and de Sitter branes, subject to non-trivial constraints on the warping parameters. We conclude by generalizing the key results to arbitrary n-fold nested warped braneworlds.

Minimally modified Fritzsch texture for quark masses and CKM mixing

The Standard Model does not constrain the form of the Yukawa matrices and thus the origin of fermion mass hierarchies and mixing pattern remains puzzling. On the other hand, there are intriguing relations between fermion masses and mixing angles which may point towards specific textures of Yukawa matrices. One of the classic hypothesis is the zero texture proposed by Fritzsch which is, however, excluded by present precision tests since it predicts a too large value of |Vcb| as well as a too small value of the ratio |Vub/Vcb|. In this paper we discuss a minimal modification which still maintains the six zero entries as in the original Fritzsch ansatz. This modification consists in introducing an asymmetry between the 23 and 32 entries in the down-quark Yukawa matrix. We show that this flavour structure can naturally emerge in the context of models with inter-family SU(3)H symmetry. We present a detailed analysis of this Fritzsch-like texture by testing its predictions and showing that it is perfectly compatible with the present precision data on quark masses and CKM mixing matrix.

Tri-hypercharge: a separate gauged weak hypercharge for each fermion family as the origin of flavour

We propose a tri-hypercharge (TH) extension of the Standard Model (SM) in which a separate gauged weak hypercharge is associated with each fermion family. In this way, every quark and lepton multiplet carries unique gauge quantum numbers under the extended gauge group, providing the starting point for a theory of flavour. If the Higgs doublets only carry third family hypercharge, then only third family renormalisable Yukawa couplings are allowed. However, non-renormalisable Yukawa couplings may be induced by the high scale Higgs fields (hyperons) which break the three hypercharges down to the SM hypercharge, providing an explanation for fermion mass hierarchies and the smallness of CKM quark mixing. Following a similar methodology, we study the origin of neutrino masses and mixing in this model. Due to the TH gauge symmetry, the implementation of a seesaw mechanism naturally leads to a low scale seesaw, where the right-handed neutrinos in the model may be as light as the TeV scale. We present simple examples of hyperon fields which can reproduce all quark and lepton (including neutrino) masses and mixing. After a preliminary phenomenological study, we conclude that one of the massive Z′ bosons can be as light as a few TeV, with implications for flavour-violating observables, LHC physics and electroweak precision observables.

FIMP dark matter from flavon portals

We investigate the phenomenology of a non-thermal dark matter (DM) candidate in the context of flavor models that explain the hierarchy in the masses and mixings of quarks and leptons via the Froggatt-Nielsen (FN) mechanism. A flavor-dependent U(1)FN symmetry explains the fermion mass and mixing hierarchy, and also provides a mechanism for suppressed interactions of the DM, assumed to be a Majorana fermion, with the Standard Model (SM) particles, resulting in its FIMP (feebly interacting massive particle) character. Such feeble interactions are mediated by a flavon field through higher dimensional operators governed by the U(1)FN charges. We point out a natural stabilizing mechanism for the DM within this framework with the choice of half-integer U(1)FN charge n for the DM fermion, along with integer charges for the SM fermions and the flavon field. In this flavon portal scenario, the DM is non-thermally produced from the decay of the flavon in the early universe which becomes a relic through the freeze-in mechanism. We explore the allowed parameter space for this DM candidate from relic abundance by solving the relevant Boltzmann equations. We find that reproducing the correct relic density requires the DM mass to be in the range (100 − 300) keV for n = 7.5 and (3 − 10) MeV for n = 8.5 where n is the U(1)FN charge of the DM fermion.

A two-generational SU(7) model with extended weak sector: mass hierarchies, mixings, and the flavor non-universality

We study a possible gauge symmetry breaking pattern in an SU(7) grand unified theory, which describes the mass origins of all electrically charged SM fermions of the second and the third generations. Two intermediate gauge symmetries of {mathcal{G}}_{341}equiv textrm{SU}{(3)}_cotimes textrm{SU}{(4)}_Wotimes textrm{U}{(1)}_{X_0} and {mathcal{G}}_{331}equiv textrm{SU}{(3)}_cotimes textrm{SU}{(4)}_Wotimes textrm{U}{(1)}_{X_1} arise above the electroweak scale. SM fermion mass hierarchies between two generations can be obtained through a generalized seesaw mechanism. The mechanism can be achieved with suppressed symmetry breaking VEVs from multiple Higgs fields that are necessary to avoid tadpole terms in the Higgs potential. Some general features of the SU(7) fermion spectrum will be described, which include the existence of vectorlike fermions, the tree-level flavor changing weak currents between the SM fermions and heavy partner fermions, and the flavor non-universality between different SM generations from the extended weak sector.

Dark matter production through a non-thermal flavon portal

The Froggatt-Nielsen (FN) mechanism provides an attractive way of generating the determined fermion mass hierarchy and quark mixing matrix elements in the Standard Model (SM). Here we extend it by coupling the FN field, the flavon, to a dark sector containing one or more dark matter particles which are produced non-thermally sequentially through flavon production. Non-thermal flavon production occurs efficiently via freeze-in and through field oscillations. We explore this in the regime of high-scale breaking Λ of the global U(1)FN group and at the reheating temperature TR ≪ Λ where the flavon remains out of equilibrium at all times. We identify phenomenologically acceptable regions of TR and the flavon mass where the relic abundance of dark matter and other cosmological constraints are satisfied. In the case of one-component dark matter we find an effective upper limit on the FN charges at high Λ, i.e. {Q}_{textrm{FN}}^{textrm{DM}}le 13 . In the multi-component dark sector scenario the dark matter can be the heaviest dark particle that can be effectively stable at cosmological timescales, alternatively it can be produced sequentially by decays of the heavier ones. For scenarios where dark decays occur at intermediate timescales, i.e. t ~ 0.1 − 1028 s, we find that existing searches can effectively probe interesting regions of parameter space. These searches include indirect probes on decays such as γ-ray and neutrino telescopes as well as analyses of the Cosmic Microwave Background, as well as constraints on small scale structure formation from the Lyman-α forest. We comment on the future prospects of such probes, place projected sensitivities, and discuss how this scenario could accommodate the cosmological S8 tension.

Elementary particle non-perturbative mass generation. A step towards a beyond-the-Standard-Model model

We show that a recently discovered non-perturbative field-theoretical mechanism giving mass to elementary fermions, is also capable of generating a mass for the weak bosons, when the model is extended to encompass weak interactions, and can thus be used as a viable alternative to the Higgs scenario. A detailed analysis of this remarkable feature shows that the non-perturbatively generated fermion and W masses have the parametric form mf∼Cf(α)ΛRGI and MW∼gwcw(α)ΛRGI, respectively, where the coefficients Cf(α) and cw(α) are functions of the gauge couplings, gw is the weak coupling and ΛRGI is the RGI scale of the theory. In view of these expressions, we see that to match the experimental values of the top quark and W masses, we are led to conjecture the existence of a yet unobserved sector of massive fermions (that we denote Tera-fermions) subjected, besides ordinary Standard Model interactions, to a super-strong gauge interactions (Tera-interactions), so that the full theory (SM plus Tera-particles) will have an RGI scale ΛRGI≡ΛT≫ΛQCD in the TeV region. This approach offers a solution of the Higgs mass naturalness problem (there is no fundamental Higgs), an understanding of the fermion mass hierarchy and a physical interpretation of the electro-weak scale as a fraction of ΛT.