Whether the anarchical ansatz or more symmetric structures best describe the neutrino parameters is a long standing question that underwent a revival of interest after the discovery of a nonvanishing reactor angle and the indication of a nonmaximal atmospheric angle. In this letter, a Bayesian statistical approach is adopted in order to analyze and compare the two hypotheses within the context of $U(1)$ flavor models. We study the constraints on individual model parameters and perform a model comparison: the results elect constructions with built-in hierarchies among the matrix elements as preferred over the anarchical ones, with values of the evidence that depend slightly on whether the $U(1)$ charges are also considered free parameters or not, and on the priors used.

• Received 25 March 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.89.093021