The charm of 331

We perform a detailed analysis of flavour changing neutral current processes in the charm sector in the context of 331 models. As pointed out recently, in the case of Z′ contributions in these models there are no new free parameters beyond those already present in the B_d,s and K meson systems analyzed in the past. As a result, definite ranges for new Physics (NP) effects in various charm observables could be obtained. While generally NP effects turn out to be small, in a number of observables they are much larger than the tiny effects predicted within the Standard Model. In particular we find that the branching ratio of the mode D⁰→ μ⁺μ⁻, despite remaining tiny, can be enhanced by 6 orders of magnitude with respect to the SM. We work out correlations between this mode and rare B_d,s and K decays. We also discuss neutral charm meson oscillations and CP violation in the charm system. In particular, we point out that 331 models provide new weak phases that are a necessary condition to have non-vanishing CP asymmetries. In the case of ∆ACP, the difference between the CP asymmetries in D⁰→ K⁺K⁻ and D⁰→ π⁺π⁻, we find that agreement with experiment can be obtained provided that two conditions are verified: the phases in the ranges predicted in 331 models and large hadronic matrix elements.