Texture Zeros and Weak Basis Transformations

TL;DR

This paper examines the physical significance of texture zeros in quark mass matrices, demonstrating many are basis-dependent and analyzing a four-zero texture consistent with experimental data.

Contribution

It clarifies the physical meaning of texture zeros and shows that some are basis-dependent, providing insights into quark mass matrix structures.

Findings

Many texture zeros are basis-dependent and lack physical significance.

A specific four-zero texture aligns with current experimental data.

Weak basis transformations can generate texture zeros without physical implications.

Abstract

We investigate the physical meaning of some of the "texture zeros" which appear in most of the Ansatze on quark masses and mixings. It is shown that starting from arbitrary quark mass matrices and making a suitable weak basis transformation one can obtain some of these sets of zeros which therefore have no physical content. We then analyse the physical implications of a four-texture zero Ansatz which is in agreement with all present experimental data.