Softly Broken A_4 Symmetry for Nearly Degenerate Neutrino Masses

The leptonic Higgs doublet model of neutrino masses is implemented with an A_4 discrete symmetry (the even permutation of 4 objects or equivalently the symmetry of the tetrahedron) which has 4 irreducible representations: 1, 1’, 1’', and 3. The resulting spontaneous and soft breaking of A_4 provides a realistic model of charged-lepton masses as well as a nearly degenerate neutrino mass matrix. Phenomenological consequences at and below the TeV scale are discussed.