Models of Fermion Mass Matrices Based on a Flavor- and Generation-Dependent U(1) Gauge Symmetry

We study models of fermion mass matrices based on a flavor- and generation-dependent string-motivated U(1)$_A$ gauge symmetry and report two new classes of solutions to the requisite consistency conditions. In particular, we propose that the fundamental reason underlying the striking feature $m_b, \ m_\tau << m_t$ is that all of the elements of the down-quark and charged lepton effective Yukawa matrices actually arise from higher-dimension operators, suppressed by inverse powers of the Plank mass. An explicit model embodying this idea is constructed.