Is S4 the horizontal symmetry of tri-bimaximal lepton mixing?

TL;DR

This paper critically examines the claim that S_4 is the unique minimal symmetry group for tri-bimaximal lepton mixing, providing counterexamples and group-theoretical analysis to challenge this assertion.

Contribution

The paper re-evaluates the role of S_4 in tri-bimaximal mixing and demonstrates, through models and group theory, that S_4 is not uniquely determined by the lepton mass matrices.

Findings

S_4 is not the unique minimal symmetry group for tri-bimaximal mixing.

Counterexamples show alternative symmetry groups can produce tri-bimaximal mixing.

Group-theoretical arguments challenge the uniqueness of S_4 in this context.

Abstract

We determine the symmetry groups under which the charged-lepton and the Majorana-neutrino mass terms are invariant. We note that those two groups always exist trivially, i.e. independently of the presence of any symmetries in the Lagrangian, and that they always have the same form. Using this insight, we re-evaluate the recent claim that, whenever lepton mixing is tri-bimaximal, S_4 is the minimal unique horizontal-symmetry group of the Lagrangian of the lepton sector, with S_4 being determined by the symmetries of the lepton mass matrices. We discuss two models for tri-bimaximal mixing which serve as counterexamples to this claim. With these two models and some group-theoretical arguments we illustrate that there is no compelling reason for the uniqueness of S_4.