Majorana neutrino masses from anomalous U(1) symmetries

We explore the possibility of interpreting the solar and atmospheric neutrino data within the context of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model augmented by a single U(1) anomalous family symmetry spontaneously broken by non-zero vacuum expectation values of a pair of singlet fields. The symmetry retains a dimension-five operator which provides Majorana masses for left-handed neutrino states. Assuming symmetric lepton mass matrices, the model predicts inverse hierarchical neutrino mass spectrum, theta(13) = 0 and large mixing while at the same time it provides acceptable mass matrices for the charged fermions. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.