As one of the hypothetical principles in the Standard Model (SM), lepton flavor universality (LFU) should be tested with a precision as high as possible such that the physics violating this principle can be fully examined. The run of $Z$ factory at a future $e^+e^-$ collider such as CEPC or FCC-$ee$ provides a great opportunity to perform this task because of the large statistics and high reconstruction efficiencies for $b$-hadrons at $Z$ pole. In this paper, we present a systematic study on the LFU test in the future $Z$ factories. The goal is three-fold. Firstly, we study the sensitivities of measuring the LFU-violating observables of $b\to c τν$, $i.e.$, $R_{J/ψ}$, $R_{D_s}$, $R_{D_s^\ast}$ and $R_{Λ_c}$, where $τ$ decays muonically. For this purpose, we develop the strategies for event reconstruction, based on the track information significantly. Secondly, we explore the sensitivity robustness against detector performance and its potential improvement with the message of event shape or beyond the $b$-hadron decays. A picture is drawn on the variation of analysis sensitivities with the detector tracking resolution and soft photon detectability, and the impact of Fox-Wolfram moments is studied on the measurement of relevant flavor events. Finally, we interpret the projected sensitivities in the SM effective field theory, by combining the LFU tests of $b\to c τν$ and the measurements of $b\to s τ^+τ^-$ and $b\to s \barν ν$. We show that the limits on the LFU-violating energy scale can be pushed up to $\sim \mathcal{O} (10)$~TeV for $\lesssim \mathcal O(1)$ Wilson coefficients at Tera-$Z$.
In this talk, we first make some brief comments on the phase-convention dependence of the CP-violating parameter ε_B. A simple framework is then presented for analyzing new physics contributions to B^0-\bar{B}^0 mixing and their effects on the lepton CP asymmetry, a promising signal to be further searched for in the first-round experiments of B factories.
Further experimental and theoretical studies of the physics of flavor and CP violation are well motivated. Within the supersymmetric framework, higher precision measurements will allow to explore classes of models with stronger degree of universality: first, models with no universality, such as alignment or heavy first two squark generations; second, models with approximate universality, such as dilaton dominance or AMSB; and finally models of exact universality, such as GMSB. A broad program, including various rare processes or CP asymmetries in B, D and K decays, will provide detailed inform…
I review the latest results on exotic, lepton flavor violating (LFV) and lepton number violating (LNV) decays of the B, D mesons and the tau leptons, obtained at the two B-factory experiments, Belle and BaBar. Where appropriate, results from other experiments are also described.
The present experimental status of searches for lepton flavor violating decays of the $τ$ lepton to a lighter mass lepton and a photon or a pseudoscalar meson is presented. The results obtained are from $e^+e^-$ annihilation data collected at a center-of-mass energy near 10.58 GeV by the \babar and the Belle detectors. In order to benefit from larger available datasets, the first $\babar-$Belle combinations of upper limits on the branching fractions of lepton flavor violating $τ$-decays are obtained.
Isosinglet fermions naturally arise in a variety of extensions of the Standard Model, in particular in models with extra dimensions. In this paper, we study the effect of the addition of a new isosinglet charged lepton to the standard spectrum, with special emphasis on implications for neutrino asymmetries to be measured at future neutrino factories. Lepton flavour violation in neutral current and lepton universality constraints are extensively discussed. We show that new physics effects in $ν_e-ν_μ$ CP asymmetries are significantly enhanced due to leptonic maximal mixings but still too small …
$B$-meson decays involving radiative and electroweak penguin processes are sensitive probes to new physics beyond the standard model. The Belle experiment recently reported measurements of the inclusive radiative decay $B \to X^{}_{s} γ$, and exclusive radiative decays $B \to K^{\ast} γ$ and $B \to K^{0}_{S} ηγ$. A lepton-flavor dependent measurements of angular observables for the decays $B \to K^{\ast} \ell \ell$ by Belle hinted at possible deviation from lepton-flavor-universality. Any departure from lepton flavor universality is essentially accompanied by lepton flavor violation. Recently,…
We demonstrate how probes of CP-violating observables in Higgs di-tau decays at prospective future lepton colliders could provide a test of weak scale baryogenesis with significant discovery potential. Measurements at the Circular Electron Positron Collider, for example, could exclude a CP phase larger than $2.9^\circ$ ($5.6^\circ$) at 68% (95%) C.L. assuming the Standard Model value for magnitude of the tau lepton Yukawa coupling. Conversely, this sensitivity would allow for a $5\,σ$ discovery for 82% of the CP phase range $[0,2π)$. The reaches of the Future Circular Collider - ee and Interna…
Many extensions of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics predict the existence of charged Higgs bosons with substantial couplings to SM particles, which would render them observable both directly at the LHC and indirectly at B-factories. For example, the charged Higgs boson couplings to fermions in two doublet Higgs models of type II, are proportional to the ratio of the two Higgs doublet vacuum expectation values (tan(beta)) and fermionic mass factors and could thus be substantial at large tan(beta) and/or for heavy fermions. In this work we perform a model-independent study of the char…
High Luminosity upgrades of the KEK-B collider are being discussed. We consider the role of the purely leptonic decays B^\pm -> l^\pm nu and B^0 -> l+l- in motivating such an upgrade. These decays are very sensitive to R parity violating extensions of the MSSM, and we show that future runs of the KEK-B factory can be competitive with high energy colliders for probing such models.
In the Standard Model (SM), the coupling of the electroweak gauge bosons to the leptons is lepton flavour universal. Tests of this property constitute sensitive probes for new physics models that violate lepton flavour universality. Recent tests of lepton universality in rare $b\to s\ell\ell$ decays and semileptonic $b\to cτ\barν_τ$ transitions have shown some tensions with the precise SM predictions. These proceedings summarise the latest results on lepton flavour universality from the LHCb experiment.
We construct a semi-inclusive Lepton Flavour Universality (LFU) ratio, $R_Σ$, to test $μ/e$ universality in $b\to s\ell^+\ell^-$ transitions at $e^+e^-$ $B$-meson factories. Combining different decay channels, this observable maximises the sensitivity to possible LFU violations of short distance origin, yet preserving a clean theoretical interpretation in case of a deviation from its Standard Model prediction, $R_Σ^{\rm SM}=1$.
Semileptonic $b \rightarrow s\ell \ell$ processes constitute a good probe for new physics phenomena: new particles contributing to the loops could affect branching fractions and angular distributions, and have different couplings to different lepton families, thus violating lepton flavour universality. Recent results from the LHCb experiment are reviewed.
The Belle Collaboration presented three recent Belle analyses: The search for $B\rightarrow lνγ$ ($l = e, μ$) with improved hadronic tagging, the search for $B\rightarrow μν_μ$ with inclusive tagging and the test of lepton universality in $B\rightarrow K^*ll$ ($l = e, μ$) decays.
We suggest a new class of tests for searching for lepton flavor non-universality (LFNU) using ratio observables and based on correlations among the underlying LFNU new physics (NP) effects in several (seemingly independent) di-lepton and single lepton + jet(s) processes. This is demonstrated by studying the effects generated by LFNU 4-Fermi interactions involving 3rd generation quarks. We find that the sensitivity to the scale ($Λ$) of the LFNU 4-Fermi operators significantly improves when the correlations among the various di-lepton +jets and single-lepton + jets processes are used, reaching …
The coupling of the electroweak gauge bosons of the Standard Model (SM) to leptons is flavour universal. Extensions of the SM do not necessarily have this property. Rare decays of heavy flavour are suppressed in the SM and new particles may give sizeable contributions to these processes, therefore, their precise study allows for sensitive tests of lepton flavour universality. Of particular interest are rare b to sll decays that are well accessible at the LHCb experiment. Recent results from LHCb on lepton flavour universality in rare b to sll decays are discussed.
Several measurements of tree- and loop-level b-hadron decays performed in the recent years hint at a possible violation of Lepton Universality. This article presents an experimental and theoretical overview of the current status of the field.
A recent proposal for explaining discrepancies in angular observables in the rare decay B --> K*mu+mu- with a gauged L_mu - L_tau current carried with it the prediction of lepton flavor universality violation in related B-meson decays. This prediction gained empirical support with a subsequent hint for lepton flavor universality violation in the B --> K l+l- decay by LHCb. In this short paper we fully quantify the prediction including the associated uncertainties. We also provide new predictions for a variety of additional observables sensitive to lepton flavor universality violation in B-meso…
We are in the middle of a time of exciting discovery, namely that neutrinos have mass and oscillate. In order to take the next steps to understand this potential window onto what well might be the mechanism that links the quarks and leptons, we need both new neutrino beams and new detectors. The new beamlines can and should also provide new laboratories for doing charged lepton flavor physics, and the new detectors can and should also provide laboratories for doing other physics like proton decay, supernovae searches, etc. The new neutrino beams serve as milestones along the way to a muon coll…
Precise measurement of the Electric Dipole Moment (EDM) and anomalous magnetic moment ($g$-2) of particles are important tests of Beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics. It is generally believed that the tau lepton couples more strongly to BSM due to its large mass, and can be searched for at collider experiments. A new method to approximately reconstruct the neutrinos from the hadronic decays of $τ^-τ^+$ pairs produced at $e^-e^+$ tau factories is proposed. With all final state particle momenta available, observables based on matrix elements and sensitive to BSM are calculated. It is estimated t…
$b\to sτ^+τ^-$ measurements are highly motivated for addressing lepton-flavor-universality (LFU)-violating puzzles such as $R_{K^{(\ast)}}$ anomalies. The anomalies of $R_{D^{(*)}}$ and $R_{J/ψ}$ further strengthen their necessity and importance, given that the LFU-violating hints from both involve the third-generation leptons directly. $Z$ factories at the future $e^-e^+$ colliders stand at a great position to conduct such measurements because of their relatively high production rates and reconstruction efficiencies for $B$ mesons at the $Z$ pole. To fully explore this potential, we pursue a …
The electroweak sector of the Standard Model contains three generations of charged leptons $\ell^-\in\{e^-,μ^-,τ^-\}$ as exact replicas of each other, except for their Yukawa couplings to the Higgs that determine their masses. The Yukawas, and thereby, the masses, are not predicted but are parameters in the theory. A basic tenet in the formalism, known as lepton universality, is equality of the couplings to the electroweak gauge bosons $\{γ, Z, W^-\}$ among all three generations, and has mostly stood the test of time. However, precision tests in $B$ decays have recently posed serious challenge…
One of the key assumptions of the Standard Model of fundamental particles is that the interactions of the charged leptons, namely electrons, muons, and taus, differ only because of their different masses. While precision tests have not revealed any definite violation of this assumption, recent studies of B meson decays involving the higher-mass tau lepton have resulted in observations that challenge lepton universality at the level of four standard deviations. A confirmation of these results would point to new particles or interactions, and could have profound implications for our understandin…
SuperB experiment could represent an ideal environment to test a new U (1) symmetry related to light dark forces candidates. A promising discovery channel is represented by the resonant production of a boson U, followed by its decay into lepton pairs. Beyond approximations adopted in the literature, an exact tree level calculation of the radiative processes $e+ e- \rightarrow γ, U \rightarrow μ^+ μ^- γ, e^+ e^- γ$ and corresponding QED backgrounds is performed, including also the most important higher-order corrections. The calculation is implemented in a release of the generator BabaYaga@NLO …
$SU(2)_L$-invariance links charged dilepton and dineutrino couplings. Phenomenological implications are worked out for flavor changing neutral currents involving strange, charm, beauty and top quark transitions in a model-independent way. We put forward novel tests of lepton universality and lepton flavor conservation in $|Δc|= |Δu|=1$ and $|Δb|= |Δq|=1$, $q=d,s$, transitions suitable for the experiments Belle II and BES III. Single top production plus dileptons uniquely probes semileptonic four-fermion $|Δt|= |Δq'|=1$, $q'=u,c$, couplings and further study at the LHC is encouraged. Tests with…
A recent analysis of the LEP data shows an interesting deviation from lepton universality in W boson decays. An excess at the level of 2.8 sigma is found in the tau mode branching ratio with respect to the other two modes. It is suggested that this seeming lepton non-universality might stem from pair production of charged Higgs bosons almost degenerate with W, that preferentially decay to heavy fermions. It is shown that the deviation can be reduced to 1.4 sigma in two Higgs doublet model I without any conflict with the existing direct or indirect constraints. This conclusion is largely indepe…
We confront the indications of lepton flavor universality (LFU) violation observed in semi-tauonic $B$ meson decays with new physics (NP) searches using high $p_T$ tau leptons at the LHC. Using effective field theory arguments we correlate possible non-standard contributions to semi-tauonic charged currents with the $τ^+ τ^-$ signature at high energy hadron colliders. Several representative standard model extensions put forward to explain the anomaly are examined in detail: (i) weak triplet of color-neutral vector resonances, (ii) second Higgs doublet and (iii) scalar or (iv) vector leptoquark…
Lepton flavor universality can be tested in the semileptonic decays $Λ_b\to Λ_c^{(\ast)}$ where $Λ_c^{(\ast)}$ denotes either the ground state $Λ_c(2286)$ (with $J^P=1/2^+$) or its orbital excitations $Λ_c(2595)$ (with $J^P=1/2^-$) and $Λ_c(2625)$ (with $J^P=3/2^-$). We calculate the differential decay rates as well as the branching fractions of these decays for both tauonic and muonic modes with form factors obtained from a covariant confined quark model previously developed by us. We present results for the rate ratios of the tauonic and muonic modes which provide important tests of lepton f…
The Standard Model of particle physics predicts that charged leptons have the same electroweak interaction strength. This symmetry, called lepton flavour universality, was found to hold in a wide range of particle decays. One observable that is sensitive to lepton flavour universality is the ratio of branching fractions $R_K=\mathcal B(B^+\to K^+μ^+μ^-)$ $/$ $\mathcal B(B^+\to K^+e^+e^-)$. This quantity is measured using $9$ fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data recorded by the LHCb experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. For the dilepton invariant mass squared range $q^2\in(1.1$ $\tex…
We interpret the recent hints for lepton flavor universality violation in rare $B$ meson decays. Based on a model-independent effective Hamiltonian approach, we determine regions of new physics parameter space that give a good description of the experimental data on $R_K$ and $R_{K^*}$, which is in tension with Standard Model predictions. We suggest further measurements that can help narrowing down viable new physics explanations. We stress that the measured values of $R_K$ and $R_{K^*}$ are fully compatible with new physics explanations of other anomalies in rare $B$ meson decays based on the…
Several experiments observed deviations from the Standard Model (SM) in the flavour sector: LHCb found a $4-5\,σ$ discrepancy compared to the SM in $b\to sμ^+μ^-$ transitions (recently supported by an Belle analysis) and CMS reported a non-zero measurement of $h\toμτ$ with a significance of $2.4\,σ$. Furthermore, BELLE, BABAR and LHCb founds hints for the violation of flavour universality in $B\to D^{(*)}τν$. In addition, there is the long-standing discrepancy in the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. Interestingly, all these anomalies are related to muons and taus, while the corresponding…
The seeming violation of universality in the tau lepton coupling to the W boson suggested by LEP II data is studied using an Effective Field Theory (EFT) approach. Within this framework we explore how this feature fits into the current constraints from electroweak precision observables using different assumptions about the flavor structure of New Physics, namely [U(2) x U(1)]^5 and U(2)^5. We show the importance of leptonic and semileptonic tau decay measurements, giving 3-4 TeV bounds on the New Physics effective scale at 90% C.L. We conclude under very general assumptions that it is not poss…
We propose a novel method to probe the persistent hints of Lepton Flavour Universality violation observed in semileptonic $B$ decays. Relying on the specific properties of the Belle II experiment, it consists in comparing the inclusive rates of $Υ(4S) \to e^\pm μ^\mp X$, $Υ(4S) \to μ^\pm τ_{\rm had}^\mp X$ and $Υ(4S) \to e^\pm τ_{\rm had}^\mp X$. We show that such a measurement can be directly related to the ratio $R(X)_{τ\ell} \equiv Γ(b\to X τν) / Γ(b \to X \ell ν)$ ($\ell=e$ or $μ$), once appropriate experimental cuts are applied to suppress the effects of neutral $B$ mixing and leptons emi…
Lepton flavour universality (LFU) in B-decays is revisited by considering a class of semileptonic operators defined at a scale Lambda above the electroweak scale v. The importance of quantum effects, so far neglected in the literature, is emphasised. We construct the low-energy effective Lagrangian taking into account the running effects from Lambda down to v through the one-loop renormalization group equations (RGE) in the limit of exact electroweak symmetry and QED RGEs from v down to the 1 GeV scale. The most important quantum effects turn out to be the modification of the leptonic coupling…
We analyze the capacity of future $Z$-factories to search for heavy neutrinos with their mass from 10 to 85 GeV. The heavy neutrinos $N$ are considered to be produced via the process $e^+e^-\to Z\to νN$ and to decay into an electron or muon and two jets. By means of Monte Carlo simulation of such signal events and the Standard Model background events, we obtain the upper bounds on the cross sections $σ(e^+e^-\to νN\to ν\ell jj)$ given by the $Z$-factories with integrated luminosities of 0.1, 1 and 10 ab$^{-1}$ if no signal events are observed. Under the assumption of a minimal extension of the…
Recent searches for first-generation leptoquarks and heavy right-handed $W_R$ bosons have seen excesses in final states with electrons and jets. A bizarre property of these excesses is that they appear to violate lepton universality. With these results in mind, we study the phenomenology of supersymmetric models in which the Higgs arises as the sneutrino in an electron supermultiplet. Since the electron is singled out in this approach, one can naturally account for the lepton flavor structure of the excesses. In this work, we show that in such a framework, one can significantly alleviate the t…
The singly charged $SU(2)_L$ singlet scalar, with its necessarily flavour violating couplings to leptons, lends itself particularly well for an explanation of the Cabibbo Angle Anomaly and of hints for lepton flavour universality violation in $τ\to μ\bar νν$. In a setup addressing both anomalies, we predict loop-induced effects in $τ\to eγ$ and in $τ\to eμμ$. A recast of ATLAS selectron and smuon searches allows us to derive a coupling-independent lower limit of $\approx 200$ GeV on the mass of the singly charged singlet scalar. At a future $e^+e^-$ collider, dark matter mono-photon searches c…
Recent hints for lepton-flavor non-universality in $B$-meson decays can be interpreted as hints for the existence of leptoquarks. We show that scalar leptoquarks unavoidably arise in grand unified theories, using the well-known Pati-Salam model as an example. These GUT-motivated leptoquarks can have a number of appealing features including automatic absence of proton decay, purely chiral couplings, and relations between the various leptoquark couplings. We show that $R(K^{(*)})$ can be connected to the neutrino mass matrix that arises via type-II seesaw, resulting in testable lepton flavor vio…
Recent results from the LHC's first run have revealed intriguing departures from lepton flavour universality in the semi-leptonic decays of $B$-mesons. We discuss the complementary role that rare kaon decays can provide in testing new physics explanations of these flavour anomalies. In the framework of minimal flavour violation, we relate the chiral low-energy constants involved in $K\toπ\ell\ell'$ and $K\to\ell\ell'$ ($\ell = μ\mbox{ or } e$) with the new physics Wilson coefficients of the $b\to s$ effective Hamiltonian. We comment on the determination of these low-energy constants at NA62 an…
Radiative corrections to $B \to D \ell ν_{\ell}$ decays can have an impact on predictions and measurements of the lepton universality ratios $\mathcal{R}(D^+)$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^0)$. These proceedings summarise a study on the comparison between recent calculations of soft-photon corrections on these ratios and the corrections simulated by the PHOTOS package. Also the impact of Coulomb interactions, not simulated in PHOTOS, is discussed. Using pseudo-experiments, the effect of high-energy photon emission is studied in an LHCb-like environment, showing a bias of up to 7\% on measurements of $\m…
Data in $B$-meson decays indicate violations of lepton flavour universality, thereby raising the question about such phenomena in the charm sector. We perform a model-independent analysis of NP contributions in (semi)-leptonic decays of $D_{(s)}$ mesons which originate from $c \to d \bar{\ell} ν_{\ell}$ and $c \to s \bar{\ell} ν_{\ell}$ charge-current interactions. Starting from the most general low-energy effective Hamiltonian containing four-fermion operators and the corresponding short-distance coefficients, we explore the impact of new (pseudo)-scalar, vector and tensor operators and const…
The electroweak penguin B decays mediated by $b \to s \ell^+ \ell^- $ transitions are flavour-changing neutral current processes, and are thus sensitive to new physics owing to potential contributions of heavy particles in the quantum loop. Recently, LHCb has obtained interesting results, where the possible hints of lepton family universality violation (LFUV) could be seen. We report a new measurement of the LFUV observable $R_{K}$, the ratio of branching fractions of $B\to Kμ^{+}μ^{-}$ to $B\to Ke^{+}e^{-}$, based on the full data sample recorded by Belle at the $Υ(4S)$ resonance from $e^+e^-…
Leptoquarks with masses at the TeV scale have been proposed as possible solutions to flavor anomalies reported in the b-flavor sector. Based on data taken in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13\,\mathrm{TeV}$ at the LHC, different leptoquark flavors can be probed in various final states. In this article, the results of direct searches for single and pair production of leptoquarks conducted by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations are summarized.
Linac-ring type colliders will open new windows for both energy frontier and particle factories. Concerning the first direction, these machines seem to be a sole way to TeV scale in lepton-hadron collisison at constituent level. An essential advantage of the linac-ring type lepton-hadron colliders is the possibility of the construction of gamma-p, gamma-A and FELgamma-A colliders based on them. Today, eRHIC, THERA (TESLA on HERA)and Linac*LHC can be considered as realistic candidates for future lepton-hadron and photon hadron colliders. When it comes to factories, one can reach essentially hig…
The LHCb collaboration has recently presented their result on R_K = BR(B+ -> K+ mu+ mu-)/ BR(B+ -> K+ e+ e-) for the dilepton invariant mass bin m_{ll}^2 = 1-6 GeV^2 (l = mu, e). The measurement shows an intriguing 2.6 sigma deviation from the Standard Model (SM) prediction. In view of this, we study model independent New Physics (NP) explanations of R_K consistent with other measurements involving b -> s l l transition, relaxing the assumption of lepton universality. We perform a Bayesian statistical fit to the NP Wilson Coefficients and compare the Bayes Factors of the different hypotheses i…
We study the flavor universality of the lepton couplings with the W and Z bosons. Currently, it is constrained by the electroweak precision observables. We focus on the leptonic decay of the pion. It is shown that the decay is expected to have a comparable or better sensitivity to the lepton-flavor universality in the near future. Furthermore, it provides a complementary information in determining the Wlnu couplings without assuming new physics models. This result is applied to a model of the extra lepton.
We study the effect of a light charged Higgs appearing in supersymmetric models containing two Higgs doublets on the measurement of leptonic branching ratios of the W boson at LEP. We show that the $2.8 σ$ excess of the branching ratio $W \to τν$ with respect to the other leptons correlates well with the existence of charged Higgs with mass close to the mass of the W boson which dominantly decays into $W^\star$ and a light CP odd Higgs boson $A$ with mass below $2m_b$, so that it decays into $τ^+ τ^-$ and $c \bar c$. There are no searches for the charged Higgs in this channel and thus it could…
We analyze in detail the angular distributions in $\bar{B}\to D^*\ell \barν$ decays, with a focus on lepton-flavour non-universality. We investigate the minimal number of angular observables that fully describes current and upcoming datasets, and explore their sensitivity to physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) in the most general weak effective theory. We apply our findings to the current datasets, extract the non-redundant set of angular observables from the data, and compare to precise SM predictions that include lepton-flavour universality violating mass effects. Our analysis shows that…
We propose a novel strategy to test lepton flavor universality (LFU) in top decays, applicable to top pair production at colliders. Our proposal exploits information in kinematic distributions and mostly hinges on data-driven techniques, thus having very little dependence on our theoretical understanding of top pair production. Based on simplified models accommodating recent hints of LFU violation in charged current B meson decays, we show that existing LHC measurements already provide non-trivial information on the flavor structure and the mass scale of such new physics (NP). We also project …
If the fundamental Planck scale is of order a TeV, as the case in some extra-dimensions scenarios, future hadron colliders such as the Large Hadron Collider will be black hole factories. The non-perturbative process of black hole formation and decay by Hawking evaporation gives rise to spectacular events with up to many dozens of relatively hard jets and leptons, with a characteristic ratio of hadronic to leptonic activity of roughly 5:1. The total transverse energy of such events is typically a sizeable fraction of the beam energy. Perturbative hard scattering processes at energies well above…
LHCb found hints for physics beyond the standard model in $B\to K^*μ^+μ^-$, $B\to K^*μ^+μ^-/B\to K^*e^+e^-$ and $B_s\toϕμ^+μ^-$. In addition, the BABAR results for $B\to D^{(*)}τν$ and the CMS excess in $h\toτ^\pmμ^\mp$ also point towards lepton flavour (universality) violating new physics. While $B\to D^{(*)}τν$ and $h\toτ^\pmμ^\mp$ can be naturally explained by an extended Higgs sector, the probably most promising explanation for the $b\to sμμ$ anomalies is a $Z'$ boson. Furthermore, combining a 2HDM with a gauged $L_μ-L_τ$ symmetry allows for explaining the $b\to sμ^+μ^-$ anomalies and $h\t…
The phenomenon of neutrino flavor oscillations motivates searches for sterile neutrinos in a broad range of masses and mixing-parameter values. A sterile neutrino $N$ that mixes predominantly with the $τ$ neutrino is particularly challenging experimentally. To address this challenge, we propose a new method to search for a $ν_τ$-mixing with $N$ lighter than the $τ$ lepton. The method uses the large $e^+e^-\toτ^+τ^-$ samples collected at $B$-factory experiments to produce the $N$ in $τ$-lepton decays. We exploit the long lifetime of a sterile neutrino in this mass range to suppress background a…
In the semileptonic decays of heavy mesons and baryons the lepton-mass dependence factors out in the quadratic $\cos^2θ$ coefficient of the differential $\cosθ$ distribution. We call the corresponding normalized coefficient the convexity parameter. This observation opens the path to a test of lepton universality in semileptonic heavy meson and baryon decays that is independent of form-factor effects. By projecting out the quadratic rate coefficient, dividing out the lepton-mass-dependent factor and restricting the phase space integration to the $τ$ lepton phase space, one can define optimized …
The recent evidence for neutrino oscillations opens a new and exciting era in neutrino physics. The next generation of accelerator based neutrino oscillation experiments are expected to confirm the nature of the oscillations, and begin to measure some of the associated oscillation parameters. However, these experiments will not be able to completely determine the mixing matrix, determine the pattern of neutrino masses, or search for CP violation in the lepton sector. Therefore we are motivated to consider the neutrino beams that will be needed beyond the next generation of experiments. With th…
