We propose a simple mechanism for stabilizing flavon fields with aligned vacuum structure in models with discrete flavor symmetry. The basic idea is that flavons are stabilized by the balance between the negative soft mass and non-renormalizable terms in the potential. We explicitly discuss how our mechanism works in $A_4$ flavor model, and show that the field content is significantly simplified. It also works as a natural solution to the cosmological domain wall problem.
We construct a supersymmetric $S_4$ flavor symmetry model with one of the trimaximal neutrino mixing patterns, the so-called TM$_1$, by using the novel way to stabilize flavons, which we proposed recently. The flavons are assumed to have tachyonic supersymmetry breaking mass terms and stabilized by higher-dimensional terms in the potential. We can obtain the desired alignment structure of the flavon vacuum expectation values to realize neutrino masses and mixings consistent with the current observations. This mechanism naturally avoids the appearance of dangerous cosmological domain walls.
We consider a composite Higgs model based on the $SU(6)/Sp(6)$ coset, where an $U(1)$ subgroup of $Sp(6)$ is identified as the flavor symmetry. A complex scalar field $s$, which is a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson of the broken symmetry, carries a flavor charge and plays the role of a flavon field. The $U(1)_F$ flavor symmetry is then broken by a VEV of the flavon field, which leads to a small parameter and generates the mass hierarchy between the top and bottom quarks. A light flavon below the TeV scale can be naturally introduced, which provides a fully testable model for the origin of flavor hierarchy. A light flavon also leads to substantial flavor changing neutral currents, which are strongly constrained by the flavor precision tests. The direct search of additional scalar bosons can also be conducted in HL-LHC and future hadron colliders.
We propose a model that explains the fermion mass hierarchy by the Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism with a discrete $Z_N^F$ symmetry. As a concrete model, we study a supersymmetric model with a single flavon coupled to the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model. Flavon develops a TeV scale vacuum expectation value for realizing flavor hierarchy, an appropriate $mu$-term and the electroweak scale, hence the model has a low cutoff scale. We demonstrate how the flavon is successfully stabilized together with the Higgs bosons in the model. The discrete flavor symmetry $Z_N^F$ controls not only the Standard Model fermion masses, but also the Higgs potential and a mass of the Higgsino which is a good candidate for dark matter. The hierarchy in the Higgs-flavon sector is determined in order to make the model anomaly-free and realize a stable electroweak vacuum. We show that this model can explain the fermion mass hierarchy, realistic Higgs-flavon potential and thermally produced dark matter at the same time. We discuss flavor violating processes induced by the light flavon which would be detected in future experiments.
We study the lepton flavor models with the flavor symmetry (Z_N times Z_N times Z_N)rtimes Z_3. Our models predict non-vanishing discrete values of theta_{13} as well as theta_{12} and theta_{23} depending on N. For certain values, our models realize the tri-bimaximal mixing angles with theta_{13}=0. For other values, our models provide with discrete deviation from the tri-bimaximal mixing angles.
We investigate a gauge theory realization of non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetries and apply the gauge enhancement mechanism in heterotic orbifold models to field-theoretical model building. Several phenomenologically interesting non-Abelian discrete symmetries are realized effectively from a $U(1)$ gauge theory with a permutation symmetry. We also construct a concrete model for the lepton sector based on a $U(1)^2 rtimes S_3$ symmetry.