Neutrino tri-bi-maximal mixing from a non-Abelian discrete family symmetry

The observed neutrino mixing, having a near maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing angle and a large solar mixing angle, is close to tribi-maximal. We argue that this structure suggests a family symmetric origin in which the magnitude of the mixing angles are related to the existence of a discrete non-Abelian family symmetry. We construct a model in which the family symmetry is the non-Abelian discrete group Delta(27), a subgroup of SU(3) in which the tri-bi-maximal mixing directly follows from the vacuum structure enforced by the discrete symmetry. In addition to the lepton mixing angles, the model accounts for the observed quark and lepton masses and the CKM matrix. The structure is also consistent with an underlying stage of Grand Unification. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.