Lepton and baryon numbers as local gauge symmetries

A simple theory where the total lepton number is a local gauge symmetry is proposed. In this context, the gauge anomalies are canceled with the minimal number of extra fermionic fields and one predicts that the neutrinos are Majorana fermions. The properties of the neutrino sector are discussed, showing that this theory predicts a <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><a:mn>3</a:mn><a:mo>+</a:mo><a:mn>2</a:mn></a:math> light neutrino sector. We show that using the same fermionic fields one can gauge the baryon number and define a simple theory where the lepton and baryon numbers can be spontaneously broken at the low scale in agreement with experiments. Published by the American Physical Society 2024