Near Maximal Atmospheric Mixing in Neutrino Mass Matrices with Two Vanishing Minors

TL;DR

This paper investigates specific neutrino mass matrix textures with two vanishing minors, identifying cases that predict near maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing and naturally accommodate a non-zero reactor angle, aligning with current oscillation data.

Contribution

It identifies two particular neutrino mass matrix textures that predict near maximal atmospheric mixing and include a non-zero reactor angle, consistent with recent experimental results.

Findings

Cases B5 and B6 predict near maximal atmospheric mixing.

These textures naturally include a non-zero reactor angle.

The predictions hold regardless of solar and reactor mixing angles.

Abstract

In the flavor basis there are seven cases of two vanishing minors in the neutrino mass matrix which can accommodate the present neutrino oscillation data including the recent T2K data. It is found that two of these cases, namely $B_5$ and $B_6$ predict near maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing in the limit of large effective neutrino mass. This feature remains irrespective of the values of solar and reactor mixing angles. A non-zero reactor mixing angle is naturally accommodated in these textures.