A non-standard CP transformation leading to maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing

We discuss a neutrino mass matrix M, originally found by Babu, Ma, and Valle (BMV) and show that this mass matrix can be characterized by a simple algebraic relation. From this relation it follows that atmospheric neutrino mixing is exactly maximal while at the same time an arbitrary mixing angle 013 of the lepton mixing matrix U is allowed and-in the usual phase convention-CP violation in mixing is maximal; moreover, neither the neutrino mass spectrum nor the solar mixing angle are restricted. We put forward a seesaw extension of the Standard Model, with three right-handed neutrinos and three Higgs doublets, where the family lepton numbers are softly broken by the Majorana mass terms of the right-handed neutrino singlets and the BMV mass matrix results from a non-standard CP symmetry. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.