Comment: 54 pages, 39 diagrams, minor changes, version accepted in PRD

Abstract In the presence of neutrino Non-Standard Interactions (NSI) with matter, the derivation of neutrino parameters from oscillation data must be reconsidered. In particular, along with the standard solution to neutrino oscillation, another solution known as “LMA-Da...

We discuss the breaking of $SO(3)$ down to finite family symmetries such as $A_4$, $S_4$ and $A_5$ using supersymmetric potentials for the first time. We analyse in detail the case of supersymmetric $A_4$ and its finite subgroups $Z_3$ and $Z_2$. We then propose a super...

We formulate a unimodular N=1, d=4 supergravity theory off shell. We see that the infinitesimal Grassmann parameters defining the unimodular supergravity transformations are constrained and show that the conmutator of two infinitesinal unimodular supergravity transforma...

We study the connection between absolute neutrino mass and neutrino mixing parameters within $SO(10)$-inspired leptogenesis. We show that current favoured values of the unknown neutrino mixing parameters point toward values of the absolute neutrino mass scale that will ...

We propose supersymmetric Majoron inflation in which the Majoron field $\Phi$ responsible for generating right-handed neutrino masses may also be suitable for giving low scale "hilltop" inflation, with a discrete lepton number $Z_N$ spontaneously broken at the end of in...

The mass and weak interaction eigenstates for the quarks of the third generation are very well aligned, an empirical fact for which the Standard Model offers no explanation. We explore the possibility that this alignment is due to an additional gauge symmetry in the thi...

Dark matter (DM) interacting with the SM fields via a $Z'-$boson ('$Z'$-portal') remains one of the most attractive WIMP scenarios, both from the theoretical and the phenomenological points of view. In order to avoid the strong constraints from direct detection and dile...

We show how any flavour conserving $Z'$ model can be made flavour violating and non-universal by introducing mass mixing of quarks and leptons with a fourth family of vector-like fermions with non-universal $Z'$ couplings. After developing a general formalism, we focus ...

Comment: v1: 27 pages. v2: version to appear in JHEP. 31 pages. Extended discussion on axion basis, updated mixing bounds