Symmetries and the mass ratio of the electron and muon

A model of symmetries and gauge interactions relating the electron and muon is considered. The model is based on the U_L(1)?U_R(1)?R_L?R_R group where U_L(1)?U_R(1) denotes the chiral e-μ rotation and R_L?R_R the chiral reflection of the electron field. The invariance under this group is spontaneously broken by the vacuum expectation values of scalar fields. A zeroth-order vacuum is found for which the zeroth-order electron mass vanishes, while one-loop corrections lead to a finite $\text{m}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>e</mtext>}}\text{mμ}$ ratio. The decay process μ → e + γ is strictly forbidden in this model.