Phenomenology of a three-family model with gauge symmetry SU(3)c ⊗ SU(4)L ⊗ U(1)X

We study an extension of the gauge group SU(3)(c) circle times SU(2)(L) circle times U(1)(Y) of the standard model to the symmetry group SU(3)(c) circle times SU(4)(L) circle times U(1)(X) (3-4-1 for short). This extension provides an interesting attempt to answer the question of family replication in the sense that models for the electroweak interaction can be constructed so that anomaly cancellation is achieved by an interplay between generations, all of them under the condition that the number of families must be divisible by the number of colours of SU(3)(c). This method of anomaly cancellation requires a family of quarks transforming differently from the other two, thus leading to tree-level flavour changing neutral currents (FCNC) transmitted by the two extra neutral gauge bosons Z' and Z '' predicted by the model. In a version of the 3-4-1 extension, which does not contain particles with exotic electric charges, we study the fermion mass spectrum and some aspects of the phenomenology of the neutral gauge boson sector. In particular, we impose limits on the Z-Z' mixing angle and on the mass scale of the corresponding physical new neutral gauge boson Z(2), and establish a lower bound on the mass of the additional new neutral gauge boson Z '' Z(3). For the analysis we use updated precision electroweak data at the Z-pole from the CERN LEP and SLAC Linear Collider, and atomic parity violation data. The mass scale of the additional new neutral gauge boson Z(3) is constrained by using updated experimental inputs from neutral meson mixing in the analysis of the sources of FCNC in the model. The data constrain the Z-Z' mixing angle to a very small value of O(10(-3)), and the lower bounds on M-Z2 and M-Z3 are found to be of O(1 TeV) and O(7 TeV), respectively.