Fermion masses and symmetry breaking of a U(2) flavour symmetry RID F-4311-2011

We show how a specific sequential breaking pattern of a U(2) flavour symmetry occurs automatically in a broad framework. The relative orientation in U(2) space of the spurion fields that breaks the U(2) symmetry is uniquely fixed, thus determining the form of the fermion mass matrices in a predictive way. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.