Icosahedral (A5) family symmetry and the golden ratio prediction for solar neutrino mixing

We investigate the possibility of using icosahedral symmetry as a family symmetry group in the lepton sector. The rotational icosahedral group, which is isomorphic to A(5), the alternating group of five elements, provides a natural context in which to explore (among other possibilities) the intriguing hypothesis that the solar neutrino mixing angle is governed by the golden ratio, phi=(1+root 5 root)/2. We present a basic toolbox for model building using icosahedral symmetry, including explicit representation matrices and tensor product rules. As a simple application, we construct a minimal model at tree level in which the solar angle is related to the golden ratio, the atmospheric angle is maximal, and the reactor angle vanishes to leading order. The approach provides a rich setting in which to investigate the flavor puzzle of the standard model.