Stringy origin of non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetries Original Research Article

We study the origin of non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetries in superstring theory. We classify all possible non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetries which can appear in heterotic orbifold models. These symmetries include image and image. We find that the symmetries of the couplings are always larger than the symmetries of the compact space. This is because they are a consequence of the geometry of the orbifold combined with the space group selection rules of the string. We also study possible breaking patterns. Our analysis yields a simple geometric understanding of the realization of non-Abelian flavor symmetries.