Anomalous Abelian symmetry in the standard model

The observed hierarchy of quark and lepton masses can be parametrized by nonrenormalizable operators with dimensions determined by an anomalous Abelian family symmetry, a gauge extension to the minimal supersymmetric standard model. Such an Abelian symmetry is generic to compactified superstring theories, with its anomalies compensated by the Green-Schwarz mechanism. If we assume these two symmetries to be the same, we find the electroweak mixing angle to be sin {sup 2}{theta}{sub {omega}} = 3/8 at the string scale, just by setting the ratio of the product of down quark to charged lepton masses equal to one at the string scale. This assumes no GUT structure. The generality of the result suggests a superstring origin for the standard model. We generalize our analysis to massive neutrinos, and mixings in the lepton sector