Gauge trimming of neutrino masses

We show that under a new U(1) gauge symmetry, which is nonanomalous in the presence of one "right-handed neutrino" per generation and consistent with the standard model Yukawa couplings, the most general fermion charges are determined in terms of four rational parameters. This generalization of the B-L symmetry with generation-dependent lepton charges leads to neutrino masses induced by operators of high dimensionality. Neutrino masses are thus naturally small without invoking physics at energies above the TeV scale, whether neutrinos are Majorana or Dirac fermions. This "leptocratic" model predicts the existence of light quasisterile neutrinos with consequences for cosmology, and implies that collider experiments may reveal the origin of neutrino masses.