Disentangling Mass and Mixing Hierarchies

Area of Science:

• Particle Physics
• Quantum Field Theory
• Standard Model Physics

Background:

• The Standard Model (SM) describes fundamental particles and forces but does not explain fermion mass hierarchies.
• Existing models often link mass generation to flavor violation, complicating theoretical frameworks.
• A flavor-blind mechanism for generating mass hierarchies is highly sought after in theoretical physics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel, fully perturbative mechanism for generating SM fermion mass hierarchies.
• To decouple the dynamics of mass hierarchy generation from flavor violation.
• To explore applications in beyond-SM model building requiring alignment of flavor-violating sources.

Main Methods:

• Development of a fully perturbative theoretical framework.
• Dynamical enforcement of simultaneous diagonalization (alignment) of flavor-breaking spurions.
• Generation of highly singular spectra for these spurions.

Main Results:

• A natural generation of mass hierarchies for SM fermions is achieved.
• The mechanism operates in a flavor-blind sector, decoupling it from flavor violation.
• The dynamics can function at a significantly lower energy scale.

Conclusions:

• The presented mechanism offers a new way to understand fermion mass generation within and beyond the Standard Model.
• It provides a powerful tool for model building, particularly where alignment between different flavor-violating interactions is required.
• The independence from flavor violation opens avenues for exploring new physics at lower scales.