Related papers: Anthropic constraints on fermion masses
Based on recent work on nuclear binding, we update and extend the anthropic constraints on the light quark masses, with results that are more tightly constrained than previously obtained. We find that heavy nuclei would fall apart (because…
In this talk I review the `puzzles' associated with the fermion mass matrices and describe some recent attempts to resolve them, at least partially. Models which attempt to explain the observed mass hierarchy as arising from radiative…
Different approaches to the fermion mass problem are reviewed. We illustrate these approaches by summarizing recent developments in models of quark and lepton mass matrices. Dynamical calculations of the top quark mass are discussed, based…
The massless fermion limit of QED is discussed. For on-shell renormalisation the high energy behaviour fixes no lower limit on the mass of the lightest fermion if the fine structure constant $\alpha$ is allowed to vary. The choice of an…
In theories in which the parameters of the low energy theory are not unique, perhaps having different values in different domains of the universe as is possible in some inflationary models, the fermion masses would be distributed with…
We derive empirical relationships among elementary fermion masses based on relatively simple exponential formulae involving quantum numbers for the electromagnetic and strong interactions, with a weak correction factor motivated by a simple…
Recent developments on approaches to the quark lepton mass problem are reviewed. In particular we discuss dynamical calculations of the top quark mass at (a) the infrared quasifixed point of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model…
The origin of quark and lepton masses is one of the outstanding problems of physics. As the experimental data becomes more and more accurate, testing theories of fermion masses requires greater care. In this talk we discuss a theoretical…
Many of the classic problems of particle physics appear in a very different light when viewed from the perspective of the multiverse. Most importantly the two great ``fine tuning'' problems that motivate the field are far less serious when…
I discuss the suppression of the lightest generation fermion mass terms in realistic superstring standard--like models in the free fermionic formulation. The suppression of the mass terms is a consequence of horizontal symmetries that arise…
Assuming that the leptons and quarks other than top are massless at tree level, we show that their masses may be induced by loops involving the top quark. As a result, the generic features of the fermion mass spectrum arise from…
Fermion masses and mixing, both in the quark and leptonic sector, are discussed within the approach to the Yukawa puzzle proposed by Arkani-Hamed and Schmaltz. In the quark sector we have shown that at least two extra dimensions are…
The possibility of additional quarks and leptons beyond the three generations already established is discussed. The make-up of this Report is (I) Introduction: the motivations for believing that the present litany of elementary fermions is…
We review some recent work on nonperturbative properties of fermions and connections with chiral gauge theories. In particular, we consider one of the ultimate goals of this program: the understanding of the actual fermion mass spectrum. It…
A suggestive phenomenological relation is found among the lepton and quark masses which suggests a new insight into the problem of generations and also gives a prediction for the top quark mass in agreement with the range of values which is…
In a model where a multiverse wavefunction explores a multitude of vacua with different symmetries and parameters, properties of universes closely related to ours can be understood by examining the consequences of small departures of…
A class of models is considered in which the masses only of the third generation of quarks and leptons arise in the tree approximation, while masses for the second and first generations are produced respectively by one-loop and two-loop…
The fermion mass problem is briefly reviewed. The observed hierarchy of quark and charged lepton masses strongly suggests the existence of an approximately conserved chiral flavour symmetry beyond the Standard Model. It is argued that in…
The old issue of why there are more than one family of quarks and leptons is reinvestigated with an eye towards the use of anomaly as a tool for constraining the number of families. It is found that, by assuming the existence of…
We first discuss an approach to the fermion mass problem, according to which the whole of flavour mixing for quarks is determined by the mechanism responsible for generating the physical masses of the up and down quarks: the Lightest…