Mu-tau reflection symmetry with a texture-zero

TL;DR

This paper combines mu-tau reflection symmetry with a discrete abelian symmetry to predict neutrino masses and neutrinoless double beta decay rates, providing highly specific testable predictions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to enforce a texture-zero in neutrino mass models using combined symmetries, enhancing predictability of neutrino properties.

Findings

Lightest neutrino mass fixed in the few meV range for NO

Effective mass for neutrinoless double beta decay predicted between 14-29 meV for IO

Neutrinoless double beta decay rates are within reach of future experiments

Abstract

The $\mu\tau$-reflection symmetry is a simple symmetry capable of predicting all the unknown CP phases of the lepton sector and the atmospheric angle but too simple to predict the absolute neutrino mass scale or the mass ordering. We show that by combining it with a discrete abelian symmetry in a nontrivial way we can additionally enforce a texture-zero and obtain a highly predictive scenario where the lightest neutrino mass is fixed to be in the few meV range for two normal ordering (NO) solutions or in the tens of meV in one inverted ordering (IO) solution. The rate for neutrinoless double beta decay is predicted to be negligible for NO or have effective mass $m_{\beta\beta}\approx 14\text{ -- }29\,{\rm meV}$ for IO, right in the region to be probed in future experiments.